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HMS Marmion (1915) was a repeat M class destroyer that served with the Eleventh Flotilla of the Grand Fleet from 1915 until she was sunk in a collision while escorting a convoy to Bergen in October 1917.
The Marmion was an Admiralty type repeat M class destroyer that was ordered under the First War Programme of September 1914.
The Marmion was laid down at Fairfield on 22 October 1914, launched on 28 May 1915 and completed in September 1915.
The Marmion served with the Eleventh Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet from September 1915 until she was lost on 21 October 1917.
1916
In January 1916 she was one of fifteen repeat M class destroyers that formed the Eleventh Flotilla at Cromarty, along with the flotilla leader Kempenfelt and the light cruiser Castor.
On the eve of Jutland the Marmion was one of twelve Repeat M class destroyers from the Eleventh Destroyer Flotila which were at Invergordon (a smaller part of the flotilla was at Scapa Flow). However she was in dockyard hands.
On 21 September her propeller was damaged when she struck a submerged object while operating in the North Sea.
On 20 December the Grand Fleet was at sea carrying out exercises when the Hoste and Negro collided, with both suffering serious damage. The Marmion was sent to try and tow the Negro, but at 4am the Negro’s bulkheads gave way and she sank. The heavy seas made it difficult to rescue the crew from the water and only one officer and 33 men were saved. The Hoste also sank, although with the loss of only three men.
1917
On 14 April 1917 the Michael, Marmion and Sable escorted the Olympic on the first stages of a voyage from Lough Swilly carrying a mission to the United States, led by the Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour and including Rear-Admiral Dudley de Chair. The weather was so rough that the destroyers all lost their bridges in the storm, but the Olympic made the voyage safely.
On 24 September the Marmion salvaged the SS Dayton off Lamlash on Arran.
In October 1917 the Marmion, Sarpedon, Mary Rose, Obedient, Strongbow, Tirade, Marvel and Morning Star were all being used to escort convoys moving between the Shetlands and Norway.
Early on 17 October the German cruisers Brummer and Bremse attacked a west-bound convoy that was escorted by the Strongbow and Mary Rose. Both of those destroyers were quickly sunk, and the convoy was destroyed. The destroyers had been unable to send out a warning message, so news of the disaster only reached when the Marmion and Obedient, escorting the next east-bound convoy, ran into the armed trawler Elise, heading west with some of the survivors from the battle. An attempt was made to intercept the retreating Germans, but it was too late and they returned home safely.
The Marmion was sunk in a collision with HMS Tirade in the North Sea on 21 October 1917 with the loss of her entire crew of seventy-six men. At the time the Marmion was escorting a convoy heading east from Shetland to Bergen while the Tirade was escorting a westbound convoy coming from Bergen. The ships were passing when a high swell raised the bow of Tirade high and it smashed down onto the Marmion, cutting her in half.
Service Record
September 1915-21 October 1917: 11th Destroyer Flotilla, Grand Fleet
Displacement (standard) |
1,025t (Admiralty design) |
Displacement (loaded) |
1,250t |
Top Speed |
34 knots |
Engine |
3-shaft Brown-Curtis or Parsons turbines |
Range |
|
Length |
273ft 4in (Admiralty) |
Width |
26ft 8ft (Admiralty) |
Armaments |
Three 4in/ 45cal QF Mk IV |
Crew complement |
80 |
Laid down |
22 October 1914 |
Launched |
28 May 1915 |
Completed |
September 1915 |
Sunk in collision |
21 October 1917 |
British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War, Norman Friedman. A very detailed look at the design of British destroyers from their earliest roots as torpedo boat destroyers, though the First World War and up to the start of the Second World War, supported by vast numbers of plans and well chosen photographs [read full review]
