HMCS Tuna was a commissioned torpedo boat

Torpedo boat

A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...

 of the Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Navy

The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...

 (RCN) that served during the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Built as the high-speed civilian yacht

Yacht

A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

 Tarantula, the vessel was one of several converted yachts the RCN used during the war.

Origins

Built by Yarrow Shipbuilders

Yarrow Shipbuilders

Yarrow Limited , often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde...

 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Tarantula was a high speed private luxury yacht designed for W.K. Vanderbilt, Jr.

William Kissam Vanderbilt II

William Kissam Vanderbilt II was a motor racing enthusiast and yachtsman and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family.-Biography:...

. Among the first turbine

Steam turbine

A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....

-powered private yachts, she was used for commuting in and around New York City.

Royal Canadian Navy Service

In 1914, Jack Ross

John Ross (industrialist)

John K.L. Ross was a Canadian industrialist, sportsman, and naval officer....

, a Canadian industrialist and millionaire, purchased the Tarantula, arranged for her conversion for military use, and donated her to the RCN. The ship was commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 as HMCS Tuna, with Ross in command. She was designated as a torpedo boat after the installation of two torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

 Tubes. She was also fitted with guns for self-defense, and was assigned to patrol duties. Based out of Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

, she was a common sight in Bedford Basin

Bedford Basin

Bedford Basin is a large enclosed bay, forming the northwestern end of Halifax Harbour on Canada's Atlantic coast.-Geography:Geographically, the basin is situated entirely within the Halifax Regional Municipality and is oriented northwest-southeast, measuring approximately 8 kilometres long and 5...

. In the spring of 1917, the Tuna was paid off due to an irreparable engine mount fracture. She was sold for salvage in June, 1918, and stripped. Her hull

Hull (watercraft)

A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...

 remained in Halifax's Northwest Arm

Northwest Arm

The Northwest Arm, originally named Sandwich River, is an inlet in eastern Canada off the Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality.-Geography:...

until the 1930s.

External links

• Converted civilian vessels
• Canadian Navy Heritage Project: Ship Technical Information
• Canadian Navy Heritage Project: Photo Archive
• Kingsmill’s Little Fleet
• The 1913 Cox & King Catalogue of Yachts and Motor Boats
• Macpherson, Keneth R. and Burgess, John. (1982)(Second Printing)The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910-1981. Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-216856-1
• Milner, Marc. Canada's Navy: The First Century. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999), p. 47. ISBN 0802042813