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HMS Grenville (1916)was a Parker class flotilla leader that served with the 15th Flotilla of the Grand Fleet from late in 1916 to the end of the First World War, apart from a brief spell spent at Harwich, briefly served in the Baltic after the war then went into the reserves and was sold for scrap in 1931.
HMS Grenville was ordered under the Fourth War Programme of February 1915. She was an improved version of the Marksman class flotilla leader, with the forward two funnels merged into one and the bridge moved back, which allowed her to carry two 4in guns forward, with No.2 gun in a superfiring position. The first two ships in what became the Parker class, Parker and Grenville, were both ordered from Cammell Laird.
The Grenville was launched on 17 June 1916 and completed in October. Soon afterwards she and the Parker joined the newly formed Fifteenth Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, with the Parker serving as flagship of the flotilla. Both ships would remain part of that flotilla throughout the First World War.
On 19 December 1916 the Grenville reinforced the Harwich Force as the leader of a flotilla that was sent from the Grand Fleet to fill an urgent need for more destroyers in the Channel. The Grenville and this force returned to Scapa Flow on 3 January 1917.
1917
On 18 January 1917 the Grenville returned to Harwich, this time with the Sable, Radstock, Portia, Rigorous, Sorceress and Rob Roy.
On 22 January 1917 the British intercepted German signals suggesting that their 2nd and 6th Destroyer Flotillas were about to move to Zeebrugge. The Admiralty ordered Commodore Tyrwhitt at Harwich to intercept. He split his force into three, posting the Grenville and her six destroyers off the Maas, close to the Dutch coast. During the night action that followed the Grenville never quite got to grips with the Germans. When some of the British cruisers clashed with the Germans, Commander H.V. Dundas on the Grenville believed his role was to stay on his patrol line. He sent a signal to his destroyers to close up on the Grenville, but only two of his destroyers received the signal and stayed with him. Two, Meteor and Rigorous, headed north to try and intercept any German move back to the Heligoland Bight. Somewhat ironically, when Commodore Tyrwhitt ordered the destroyers to return to their original positions Commander Dundas had to move his three ships north to avoid them clashing with the Nimrod, which was about to pass through his patrol area. Some some contact was made, and the commander of the 6th Flotilla, Max Schultz was killed (the Second World War era destroyer Z3 was named after him), but the overall result was rather disappointing for the British.
At the end of January part of the German High Seas Fleet put to sea. The Grenville and twelve destroyers were ordered to sea to watch for enemy ships between the Shipwash and Corton Light Vessels. She was at sea from the evening of 29 January to just after noon on the following day, but didn’t sight any German ships.
In July 1917 the Grenville, Obdurate, Pelican, Nepean and Orpheus formed the escort for a convoy of five empty oilers from the Grand Fleet that was sailing from Scapa to Texas. On 25 July UC-41 ran into the convoy and sank the tanker SS Oakleaf.
1918
On 9 February 1918 the Grenville collided with the SS Express (331 tons) in the Pentland Skerries. The Express was sunk, with the loss of all thirteen of her crew including two Royal Marines. The Grenville was badly damaged.
On 21 November the Grenville was part of the British fleet that escorted the German High Seas Fleet into internment in the Firth of Forth.
Post-War
The Grenville was part of the 15th Destroyer Flotilla until early in 1919. The Grand Fleet was then dissolved, and replaced by the Atlantic Fleet. The Grenville joined the new 4th Destroyer Flotilla of the Atlantic Fleet. She served with the 4th Flotilla from early in 1919 until March 1920.
In the July 1919 Navy List she was listed with the 4th Flotilla, but it was then part of the Home Fleet, and the Grenville was being loaded to the Commander-in-Chief on the Coast of Ireland Station.
From December 1919 to February 1920 the Grenville served in the Baltic, where the British were attempting to support the anti-Bolshevik forces in the Russian Civil War. Most of these efforts ended in failure, but the intervention in the Baltic helped support the independence of the new Baltic States.
The Grenville was reduced to the reserve at Devonport on 3 March 1920.
On 26 March 1921 she collided with the side of the south lock at Devonport.
She was re-commissioned from 27 February-August 1924 to take part in exercises. She was repaired at Devonport in 1925 and twice put to sea for trials in 1926.
She was sold for scrap on 17 December 1931.
Displacement (standard) |
1,660t-1,673t |
Displacement (loaded) |
1,900t |
Top Speed |
34 knots at 36,000shp |
Engine |
3-shaft Parsons IR turbines |
Range |
4290nm at 15 knots |
Length |
324ft 10in oa |
Width |
31ft 9in |
Armaments |
Four 4in/45 QF Mk IV guns |
Crew complement |
116 |
Laid down |
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Launched |
17 June 1916 |
Completed |
11 October 1916 |
Sold for break up |
December 1931 |
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]
