H.M.S. Thorn (1900)

H.M.S. Thorn (1900)
Pendant Number:	D.57 (1914) D.70 (Sep 1915) D.89 (Jan 1918)
Builder:	John Brown & Company
Ordered:	Purchased 31 Mar 1900
Launched:	17 Mar, 1900
Commissioned:	Jun, 1901
Broken up:	1919

H.M.S. Thorn was one of forty "C" class destroyers built for the Royal Navy — a "30 knotter".

Service

After being completed at Glasgow, Thorn went to Devonport, arriving on 22 December, 1900.

She left Plymouth on 14 October, 1901 under the command of Lieutenant Hepworth Staley Alton to join the Reserve Squadron. He would be removed from command by Court Martial in November after the destroyer ran down a cutter on the Hamoaze, killing three libertymen.

In late 1905, she was one of eight destroyers in the First Division of the Channel Fleet's Destroyer Flotilla.

She was one of twenty-seven T.B.Ds. of the Portsmouth Flotilla to participate in the Annual Manoeuvres of 1909.

In mid-1913, Thorn was with the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla — a patrol flotilla.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Commander Thomas L. Barnardiston, 16 July, 1901  (for the Annual Manoeuvres of 1901)
• Lieutenant & Commander Hepworth S. Alton, 19 August, 1901 – 15 November, 1901  (removed from command by C.M. following deadly collision)
• Lieutenant & Commander Frederick G. Brine, 25 November, 1901 – 5 January, 1902
• Lieutenant & Commander Percy Pitts, 1 January, 1904 – 27 August, 1904
• Lieutenant & Commander Percy Johnson, 8 March, 1905 – 27 July, 1905
• Lieutenant & Commander Percy Crabtree, 27 July, 1905 – 1 January, 1906
• Lieutenant & Commander Henry F. D. Jelf, 1 January, 1906 – 28 May, 1906
• Lieutenant & Commander Aubrey E. D. Moore, 28 May, 1906 – 29 January, 1908
• Commander James W. G. Innes, 29 January, 1908 – 23 March, 1908
• Lieutenant & Commander Robert A. Wilson, 23 March, 1908 – September, 1909
• Lieutenant & Commander George H. I. Parker, 18 January, 1910 – 24 August, 1911
• Lieutenant & Commander Robert A. Wilson, 24 January, 1910 – 17 March, 1910
• Lieutenant & Commander William S. Hargreaves, August, 1910 – 9 December, 1910
• Lieutenant & Commander Francis E. H. G. Hobart, 28 May, 1910 – August, 1910
• Lieutenant & Commander Clive Phillipps-Wolley, 19 April, 1911 – 2 September, 1913
• Lieutenant-Commander John N. Benbow, 6 January, 1914 – 3 August, 1914
• Lieutenant in Command William O. Hozier, 3 August, 1914^[Inference] – 20 January, 1915
• Lieutenant in Command Henry F. Besant, 23 January, 1915 – 30 March, 1916
• Lieutenant R.N.R. in Command Douglas G. Jeffrey, 30 March, 1916 – 27 April, 1917
• Lieutenant in Command Frederick H. G. Dalrymple-Hamilton, 29 January, 1917 – 14 February, 1917  (temporary)
• Lieutenant-Commander R.N.R. Claude Hamilton, 22 May, 1917 – 26 December, 1917
• Lieutenant R.N.R. in Command William Nicholls, 7 March, 1918 – 10 October, 1918
• Lieutenant R.N.R. in Command Robert O. Chisholm, 30 September, 1918 – 19 April, 1919

The conflicts between Parker, Wilson and Hargreaves should be explored.

See Also

• Wikipedia