HMS Chamois
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMSChamois
Ordered	9 January 1896
Builder	Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company
Cost	£52,410[1]
Yard number	713
Laid down	28 May 1896
Launched	9 November 1896
Commissioned	November 1897
Fate	Foundered in the Gulf of Patras, 26 September 1904
General characteristics[2][3]
Class and type	Palmer three-funnel, 30-knotdestroyer
Displacement	390 long tons (396 t) standard 440 long tons (447 t) full load
Length	219 ft 9 in (66.98 m)o/a
Beam	20 ft 9 in (6.32 m)
Draught	8 ft 11 in (2.72 m)
Installed power	6,000 shp (4,500 kW)
Propulsion	4 ×Reed water tube boilers 2 × vertical triple-expansionsteam engines 2 shafts
Speed	30 kn (56 km/h)
Range	80 tons coal 1,490 nmi (2,760 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement	60 officers and men
Armament	1 ×QF 12-pounder 12 cwt Mark I L/40 naval gun on a P Mark I low angle mount 5 ×QF 6-pdr 8 cwt L/40 naval gun on a Mark I* low angle mount 2 × singletubes for18-inch (450mm) torpedoes

HMSChamois was aPalmer three-funnel, 30-knotdestroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895–1896 Naval Estimates. She was the first ship of the Royal Navy to carry this name.^[3][4] She was commissioned in 1897 and served in both the Channel and the Mediterranean. She foundered in 1904 after her own propeller pierced her hull.

She was laid down on 28 May 1896 as yard number 713 at thePalmer shipyard atJarrow-on-Tyne and launched on 9 November 1896. During her builder's trials she met her contracted speed requirement.Chamois was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in November 1897.^[3][4]

Chamois returned to Portsmouth with her shaft bent in early 1900. She was commissioned for service in theChannel Fleet on 15 March 1900,^[5] but he and the crew transferred toHMSSylvia only days later as theChamois needed further repairs.^[6] She was re-commissioned atPortsmouth on 5 September 1901, with the crew ofAlbatross, to replace that vessel on theMediterranean Station.^[7] She was later deployed as a tender to the destroyer depot shipHMS Leander at Malta.^[8] In September 1902 she visitedNauplia andSouda Bay with other ships of the fleet,^[9] and in early January 1903 there was a similar three-weeks cruise in the Greek islands aroundCorfu.^[10]

On 26 September 1904, she was the victim of a bizarre accident. While conducting a full-power trial^[11] in theGulf of Patras off the Greek coast she lost a propeller blade. The loss of the blade unbalanced the shaft, which was spinning at high speed. The resulting vibration broke the shaft bracket and tore a large hole in the hull. She sank by the stern^[12][13] in 30 fathoms (55 m) of water^[11] about 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) from the coast north of the modern village ofAraxos.^[14] All hands were saved,^[8] but two men were injured with one of them dying the following day.^[15]

• Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979).Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969].Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing.ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Dittmar, F. J. & Colledge, J. J. (1972).British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan.ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
• Friedman, Norman (2009).British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.
• Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985).Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Lyon, David (2001) [1996].The First Destroyers. London: Caxton Editions.ISBN 1-84067-3648.
• Manning, T. D. (1961).The British Destroyer. London: Putnam & Co.OCLC 6470051.
• March, Edgar J. (1966).British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service.OCLC 164893555.

• YouTube - diving the wreck of HMSChamois

38°14′N21°24′E / 38.233°N 21.400°E /38.233; 21.400

• Ships built on the River Tyne
• 1896 ships
• C-class destroyers (1913)
• Maritime incidents in 1904
• Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea

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