HMS Peyton and US Minelayer in North Sea |
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HMS Peyton (1916) was a repeat M class destroyer that served with the Grand Fleet in 1916, on the coast of Ireland Station for the first half of 1917 and with the Grand Fleet for the rest of the war.
The Peyton was ordered under the Fifth War Programme of May 1915. She was laid down at Denny on 12 July 1915, launched on 2 May 1916 and completed on 29 June 1916.
1916
From July 1916-June 1917 the Peyton served with the 14th Destroyer Flotilla, Grand Fleet
1917
On 31 January 1917 Germany announced the resumption of unrestricted U-boat warfare, and in the first week of February they sank 35 ships in the Channel and western approaches. One of the British responses was to move four destroyers (Magic, Peyton, Parthian and Narwhal) from the Grand Fleet to Queenstown in southern Ireland, where they came under the command of Admiral Bayly.
On 18 April U-53 sank the British steamer Sculptor, carrying a cargo of grain, steel and cotton from New Orleans to Liverpool. The Peyton, Bluebell and Acton rescued the 44 survivors from their small boats and landed them in Ireland.
In May 1917 Admiral Bayly ordered his destroyers to operate in pairs. The Peyton was to work with her sister ship Parthian.
Late on 14 May the Peyton took over the escort of a convoy from part of Destroyer Division Eight.
On 18 June, when the American Admiral Sims briefly took command of all British and Naval Forces in Ireland the Parthian and Peyton were at Newport, Monmouthshire.
From July-August 1917 the Peyton served with the Southern Division of the Coast of Ireland Station.
On 11 July U-87 torpeded the British SS Kioto. This produced an international response, with the Peyton being joined by two US destroyers, Trippe and Conyngham reaching her before she sank. The Peyton and Conyngham picked up the 72 survivors from the Kioto.
On 26 July UB-23 attacked the steamer Carmarthen off the Lizard. The Carmarthan stayed afloat and was soon taken under tow and safely beached. The attack soon attracted two patrol boats, P.60 and P.67 and two destroyers, Peyton and Narwhal. P.60 and both destroyers dropped depth charges, without visual success. However they had badly damaged the submarine. Her commander realised it could no longer reach her home bases, so instead headed to Corunna in Spain and she was interned for the rest of the war.
On 17 October 1917 the Germans attacked a Scandinavian convoy, sinking the destroyers Mary Rose and Strongbow. At the time the Royal Navy had been expected a German operation and had a large force of cruisers and destroyers patrolling parts of the North Sea. The Peyton was operating with the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron, which was patrolled between the southern end of Sweden and the northern tip of Denmark.
On 27 October 1917 the Peyton collided with both SS Thetis and the Danish steamer Gito in Lerwich harbour.
1918
The Peyton took part in the hunt for the destroyers Narborough and Opal which went missing on 12 January 1918. The two destroyers had run aground on the Clett of Crura near Hesta Rock but the weather was so bad that they weren’t discovered until 14 January, when the Peyton found their wrecks, and rescued the only survivor, Able Seaman William Sissons from the Opal.
From September 1918 to December 1918 the Peyton served with the 14th Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet
On 5 November 1918 the Peyton and SS Ardgowan collided.
The 14th Flotilla took part in the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet on 21 November 1918.
In December 1919 she was in the charge of a Care and Maintenance Party at Portsmouth.
She was sold to be broken up in May 1921.
Service Record
July 1916-June 1917: 14th Destroyer Flotilla, Grand Fleet
July-August 1917: Southern Division Coast of Ireland
September 1918-December 1918: 14th 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 |
12 July 1915 |
Launched |
2 May 1916 |
Completed |
29 June 1916 |
Sold for break up |
May 1921 |
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]
