HMS Trenchant (1916)


HMS Trenchant was a modified Admiralty destroyer which served with the Royal Navy. Launched in 1916, the ship operated with the Grand Fleet during World War I.

Description

Trenchant was long overall, with a beam of and a draught of. Displacement was. Power was provided by three White-Forster boilers feeding two Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines rated at and driving two shafts, to give a design speed of. Two funnels were fitted, two boilers exhausting through the forward funnel. of oil was carried, giving a design range of at.
Armament consisted of three QF 4in Mk IV guns on the ship's centreline, with one on the forecastle, one on a raised platform aft and one between the funnels. A single 2-pounder pom-pom anti-aircraft gun was carried, while torpedo armament consisted of two twin mounts for torpedoes. Fire control included a single Dumaresq and a Vickers range clock. The ship had a complement of 82 officers and men.

Service

Trenchant was one of ten destroyers ordered by the British Admiralty in March 1916 as part of the Eighth War Construction Programme and was launched on 23 December 1916.
On commissioning, Trenchant joined the 15th Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet, and served there until 1919. When the Grand Fleet was disbanded, Trenchant was transferred to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet, under the Flag of, and then acted as a tender to the depot ship. The vessel was reduced to reduced complement on 15 February 1919. While undergoing a refit in Haulbowline on 3 June 1921, Trenchant was attacked by Republican forces during the Irish War of Independence but suffered little damage. The destroyer was sold for scrap on 15 November 1928.

Pennant numbers