HMS Badger (1911)

HMS "Badger" was an "Acheron" class torpedo boat destroyer of the Royal Navy that served during World War I. She was built under the 1910-11 shipbuilding programme by R. W. Hawthorn Leslie & Company of Hebburn, was launched on 11 July 1911 and was sold for breaking on 9 May 1921. She and her sister-ship "Beaver" were completed with geared steam turbines for evaluation purposes and were known as "Parsons Specials".cite web|url=http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/acheron.htm |title=Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk website - Acheron Class|accessdate=2008-06-30] She was the eighth Royal Navy ship to be named "Badger".

Pennant Numbers

Career

Pre-War

"Badger" served with the 1st Destroyer Flotilla from 1911 and, with her flotilla, joined the British Grand Fleet in 1914 on the outbreak of war.

The Ramming of U-19

On 29 October 1914 she became the first Allied ship to successfully attack a German Navy U-boat when she rammed U-19 off the Dutch coast. ["Destroyers", Antony Preston, ISBN 0-600-32955-0, p29] U-19 was severely damaged but managed to return to port, was repaired and survived the war.

The Battle of Jutland (1916)

The 1st Destroyer Flotilla served at Jutland; it was "Badger"'s distressing duty to rescue the crew of HMS "Invincible", which had blown up after a German salvo penetrated the magazines. Of the crew of 1,021, only 2 officers and 4 crew were rescued. Her Commanding Officer at the time of the battle was Commander C A Fremantle. [cite web|url=http://www.gwpda.org/naval/jut03lst.htm|title=Battle of Jutland - Royal Navy Ships and Commanding Officers|accessdate=2008-06-30]

Lanfranc

On 17 April 1917 at 1930 hrs SS Lanfranc was torpedoed 4 miles northeast of Le Havre by UB-40 while bound for Southampton. At the time she had 387 patients, of which 167 were German POWs, and of these patients, 326 were cot-bound. Approximately 570 survivors were picked up by "Badger" and "Jackal", aided by HMS P 47 and the French patrol boat "Roitelet", and taken to Portsmouth. [cite web|url=http://bluestarline.org/booth/lanfranc2.html|title=Blue Star Line website - Lanfranc 2|accessdate=2008-06-30]

ervice off Durazzo

Lt Cdr Geoffrey Corlett received the Italian Naval Decoration for service off Durazzo in Albania while serving as the captain of HMS Badger. [cite web|url=http://www.book.bradworthy.co.uk/10-war/1914-war/index.php5|title=Bradworthy Book - World War One|accessdate=2008-06-30]

Tuscania

At 0700 hrs on 4 February 1918, "Badger" joined convoy HX-20 along with seven other Royal Navy destroyers from Lough Swilly, Northern Ireland. At 1845 the next day, while transiting the North Channel, SS "Tuscania" of 14,348 GRT was torpedoed by UB-77. The ship was packed with US soldiers, and 210 lives were lost in the sinking. [cite web|url=http://renton.50megs.com/Tuscania/Novus_Fabula_02/zimmermann02.htm|title=S.S. Tuscania - An American History|accessdate=2008-06-30]

Post-War

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References

ee also