SPITFIRE

Fleet

Royal Navy

Ship Type

Destroyer

Nickname

–

Ship Class

Acasta class

Grouping

4th Destroyer Flotilla

Command

Jellicoe (based in Scapa Flow)

Builder's Yard

Swann Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend

Budget Year

–

Construction Notes

–

Date Laid Down

–

Launch Date

23.12.1912

Completed date

–

Commission date

–

Year laid down

–

Year launched

1912

Year completed

–

Commission Year

–

Pennant No

H41 (to Jan 1st 1918), H1A (to early 1919) and H85

Photo Details

Photo courtesy of Alan Bush. Photo taken during the Contractors’ Trial April 13th.Athelstan P Bush served on the Spitfire from Dec 1914 to June 1916. Photo taken during the Contractors’ Trial April 13th.

Related stories

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Sister ships

Acasta, Achates, Ambuscade, Christopher, Contest, Fortune, Garland, Hardy, Midge, Owl, Porpoise, Shark, Sparrowhawk, Unity

Eventual Fate

Scrapped May 1921

Jutland result

A POST TO THE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM'S "LIVES REMEMBERED" BY Nick JellicoeFirst Lieutenant Athelstan P. Bush served on HMS Spitfire at the Battle of Jutland when she was part of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla that engaged the German van trying to break through to the British line. Spitfire claimed to have collided with the SMS Nassau, a 28,000 Dreadnought. The evidence points to the fact that a British destroyer rammed Nassau but it is not absolutely clear that it was the Spitfire. If it was, the Bush was responsible for bringing the Spitfire back to the Tyne. He described the encounter “She was coming at us full speed across our port bow. The captain ordered, ‘Hard a starboard: full speed ahead both’, and leaning over the bridge screen, shouted ‘Clear the fo’c’s’le’. It wasn’t a minute too soon, as with an awful crash the two ships met end on, port bow to port bow, we steaming at almost 27 knots, she steaming not less than 10 knots (perhaps 20 or more).” The Spitfire was almost rolled over by the collision. Bush went on: “Fires started breaking out forward and to make matters worse all the lights were short-circuited, so that anyone going up to the bridge received strong electric shocks. Moreover, all the electric bells in the ship were ringing, which made things feel rather creepy. It was extraordinary the way the fire spread, burning strongly in places where one thought there was hardly anything inflammable, such as on the fore-bridge and the decks, but flags, signal halyards and the coconut matting on the deck all caught fire, and sparks from the latter were flying about everywhere. We thought the light would be sure to draw some enemy fire upon us, but fortunately it didn’t. There was a large hole in the base of the second funnel through which flames were pouring out, and every single hosepipe in the ship seemed to be cut by splinters and useless”.Crippled, the Spitfire limped along at six knots and somehow was able to get back to the Tyne 36 hours later, with her remarkable battle trophy: 20 foot of planking from the Nassau. The story goes that the Spitfire’s crew were given small mementoes cut up from the Nassau’s strake, part of her hull. Trelawny, the Spitfire’s commander, said later that a portion of the Nassau’s strake was sent to America as part of a propaganda campaign. Trelawny was out cold on the deck and command had been taken over by Bush who was able to steer from the aft.

Ready for action after dock repairs

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Commander

Lieutenant-Commander Clarence W. E. Trelawny

Noteable Officers

Sub Lieutenant Athelstan P Bush

Crew complement

–

Officers

–

Ratings

–

Killed

6

Wounded

20

Prisoners

26

Displacement full Load (tons)

935

Artefacts Data

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Ship's Model

–

Length (ft)

267' 6"

Length (mtrs)

81.53

Beam (ft)

29' 9"

Beam (mtrs)

8.15

Draught (ft)

9' 6"

Draught (mtrs)

2.9

Max. Speed (knots)

29

Range (miles)

–

Range (kilometres)

–

Fuel

–

Propulsion

2 shaft Parsons steam turbines. Yarrow water tube boilers, giving 24,500 hp

Armour Main Belt

–

Deck Armour

–

Turret Armour IN CM

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Conning Tower Armour

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Barbette Armour

–

Weight of armour

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Armour / Displacement Ratio

–

Watertight compartments

–

General Notes

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Fire Control Table

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Fire Control - Clock

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Primary Gun calibre

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No. Primary Turrets

–

Guns (No.barrels)

–

Primary gun layout

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Rounds per main gun

–

Effective broadside guns

–

Primary shell Weight (inches or cm)

–

Primary Broadside Weight

–

Secondary Gun Calibre

–

Guns (No.barrels) 2

–

Rounds per secondary

–

Other Armament

Three QF 4" Mk IV guns (101.6 mm), One QF 2 pdr Pom Pom Mk II gun

Elevation (degrees)

–

Gunnery Range (yards)

–

Gunnery Range (metres)

–

Rate of Fire (rds per minute)

–

Shells expended Main

–

Mines dropped

–

Shells expended Secondary

–

Torpedoes fired

–

Gunnery Notes

–

Torpedo Type IN

21"

No. tubes

2

Torpedo Type MM

532 mm

No. Mines

–

Torpedo Notes

single mounts

References & sources

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