HMS Zubian

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HMS Zubian
History
RN EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Zubian
BuilderChatham Dockyard
Commissioned7 June 1917
FateScrapped 9 December 1919
General characteristics
Class and typeTribal-class destroyer
Displacement1,040 t (1,020 long tons; 1,150 short tons)
Length85.4 m (280 ft)
Beam8.2 m (27 ft)
Draught3 m (9.8 ft)
Installed power
  • 6
    Thornycroft boilers
  • 14,000 shp (10,000 kW)
Propulsion3 Parsons steam turbines
Speed33 kn (38 mph; 61 km/h)
Complement68
Armament

HMS Zubian was a

portmanteau of the names of the original ships.[1]

Zubian saw extensive service in the final two years of the war as part of the Dover Patrol. She sank the German U-boat UC-50 in February 1918, while she was on patrol in the English Channel. In late April, she participated in the First Ostend Raid as an escort for the bombardment force. After the war, Zubian was sold for scrap and broken up by December 1919.

Design

Main article: Tribal-class destroyer (1905)

Zubian was 85.4 metres (280 ft)

amidships. Her crew numbered 68 officers and ratings.[2]

Service history

Nubian with bow blown off and aground in 1916

In late 1916, two British destroyers of the 6th Flotilla in the

beam,[2] the unique operation was successful.[5] The ship was renamed Zubian by Admiral Reginald Bacon, the commander of the Dover Patrol.[6] The hybrid destroyer was commissioned on 7 June 1917.[7] The choice of name caused confusion among the German Imperial Admiralty Staff, who knew of no such ship under construction.[8]

Zubian joined the 6th Flotilla and served there until the end of the war.

Dover Strait in groups of four, supported by flotilla leaders; these patrols were intended to catch German torpedo boats that were conducting night bombardments of Allied positions in the Channel.[10] While in the Dover Strait on 4 February 1918, she encountered the mine-laying U-boat UC-50, which was surfaced about 400 yards (370 m) off Zubian's port bow with her radio antennae up. Zubian attempted to ram the submarine but the Germans managed to submerge. The destroyer then dropped depth charges over the submerged U-boat and a significant amount of oil and wreckage was observed thereafter. Zubian marked the location with a buoy and an hour later, the patrol vessel HMS P12 dropped additional depth charges there. Trawlers later located an object that divers confirmed was UC-50.[11]

Zubian also participated in the First Ostend Raid two months later on the night of 23–24 April. The attack was intended to close the German-held ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge, which were being used as bases for the U-boats.[12] Zubian was assigned to the bombardment force, and along with the destroyers Mentor and Lightfoot, provided the close escort for a group of six monitors. The bombardment unit was covered by the Harwich Force in the Channel.[13] The bombardment force was tasked with suppressing the German coastal defences,[14] while a pair of old cruisers attempted to steam into the harbour entrances, where they would be sunk as blockships. The effort failed when both cruisers ran aground far outside of the harbour.[15]

Worn out by heavy wartime use, Zubian was sold in the immediate post-war draw down and broken up for scrap by December 1919.[7]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Dilke, p. 714
  2. ^ a b Gardiner & Gray, p. 71
  3. ^ Henshaw 2020, p. 27.
  4. ^ Ravenscroft, p. 429
  5. ^ van der Vat, p. 91
  6. ^ Sea History, p. 61
  7. ^ a b Gardiner & Gray, p. 72
  8. ^ The Nautical Gazette, p. 62
  9. ^ Bacon, p. 13
  10. ^ Bacon, p. 45
  11. ^ Messimer (2002), p. 290
  12. ^ Carpenter, pp. 17–18
  13. ^ Carpenter, p. 270
  14. ^ Messimer (2001), p. 173
  15. ^ Messimer (2001), p. 175

References

Further reading
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