HMS Broke was a Faulknor-class

Faulknor class leader

The Faulknor class were a class of flotilla leaders that were under construction in the United Kingdom for the Chilean Navy at the outbreak of World War I. These ships were purchased by the British, taken over and completed for the Royal Navy for wartime service...

 destroyer leader

Flotilla leader

A flotilla leader was a warship suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships, typically a small cruiser or a large destroyer...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, initially built for the Chilean Navy

Chilean Navy

-Independence Wars of Chile and Peru :The Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea".This led to the...

 as the Almirante Lynch-class

Almirante Lynch class destroyer

The Almirante Lynch class destroyers were a group of ships built for the Chilean Navy just before World War I. The Chileans had long been customers of British shipyards and ordered six ships from J. Samuel White in 1911. These destroyers were a private design by J. Samuel White that were...

 destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

 Almirante Goni. The outbreak of the First World War led to her being purchased by the Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 in August 1914 shortly after her launching, and renamed HMS Broke. All of the class were present at the Battle of Jutland

Battle of Jutland

The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...

 on 31 May to 1 June 1916 where Broke, out of control after hits from German ships, collided with the Acasta-class destroyer

Acasta class destroyer

The Acasta class was a class of twenty destroyers built for the Royal Navy under the Naval Programme of 1911 - 1912 that saw service during World War I...

 HMS Sparrowhawk

HMS Sparrowhawk (1912)

HMS Sparrowhawk was an Acasta-class destroyer built in 1912 and sunk in 1916 at the battle of Jutland after a collision with the destroyer leader HMS Broke.-Construction:...

 leading to the latter's loss. The Broke saw action in several battles, and was resold to Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 after the conclusion of the war.

Construction

Built as the Almirante Goni by J S White, Cowes

Cowes

Cowes is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...

, HMS Broke was launched on 25 May 1914, and was completed in 1914.

Battle of Jutland

Broke formed part of the 4th destroyer flotilla commanded by Captain Charles Wintour onboard . During the night of 31 May the flotilla was stationed behind (north) of the Grand Fleet to guard against German attack and was heading south keeping station with the fleet. At around 23.15 Leading Torpedoman Cox on board , fourth ship in the twelve strong line, sighted three ships approaching. These were reported to Captain Wintour, who being unable to determine whether the ships were British or German issued a British challenge signal to the approaching ships. This was immediately answered by a hail of fire at a range of around 600 yards from the approaching German light cruisers, SMS Stuttgart

SMS Stuttgart

SMS Stuttgart was a Königsberg class light cruiser of the Kaiserliche Marine, named after the city of Stuttgart.-Design:The Stuttgart was one of the three light cruisers whose eighth funnel was 'detached', meaning the distance to the central funnel was greater than that between the middle and front...

, SMS Hamburg

SMS Hamburg

The SMS Hamburg was a Bremen class light cruiser of the Kaiserliche Marine, named after the city of Hamburg. She was begun by AG Vulcan Stettin in Stettin in 1902, launched on 25 July 1903 and commissioned on 8 March 1904....

, SMS Rostock

SMS Rostock

SMS Rostock was a light cruiser of the built by the German Kaiserliche Marine . She had one sister ship, ; the ships were very similar to the previous s. The ship was laid down in 1911, launched in November 1912, and completed by February 1914...

 and SMS Elbing

SMS Elbing

The SMS Elbing was a German Pillau class light cruiser, named after the East Prussian city of Elbing. Intended for the Russian navy under the name Admiral Newelski , the ship was built at F. Schichau-Werft in Danzig in 1913-1914...

. Shortly behind them, the battleships SMS Westfalen

SMS Westfalen

SMS Westfalen "SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship" was one of the s, the first four dreadnoughts built for the German Imperial Navy. Westfalen was laid down at AG Weser in Bremen on 12 August 1907, launched nearly a year later on 1 July 1908, and commissioned into the...

 and SMS Nassau

SMS Nassau

SMS Nassau"SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship" in German. was the first dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial German Navy, a response to the launching of the British battleship HMS Dreadnought in 1906...

 also opened fire with their secondary armament. The ships were the van of the German High Seas Fleet

High Seas Fleet

The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...

, which was passing behind the British fleet.

The leading British ships, Tipperary, , Sparrowhawk, HMS Garland, and Broke all fired torpedoes at the German ships before turning away from the fire. Confusion as to the identity of the opposing ships persisted despite the outbreak of gunfire, so that Brokes captain ordered no torpedoes to be fired until he could positively identify the ships as German. This he did when a searchlight from one of the German ships caught one of her companions for long enough for it to be identified. None of the destroyers further behind felt sufficiently confident to open fire. In accord with standing orders to conserve torpedo stocks, each ship fired only one or two torpedoes, one of which struck Elbing, but in the dark it was unknown which ship had fired it. The German ships had turned away to avoid the torpedoes, and in the confusion Elbing was rammed by the battleship SMS Posen

SMS Posen

SMS Posen "SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship" was one of four battleships in the , the first dreadnoughts built for the German Imperial Navy...

. Tipperary was set on fire in the engagement and sank around 02.00 the following morning. Elbing had to be abandoned and similarly sank around 03.40. Spitfire narrowly avoided being rammed by the battleship Nassau, ripping a hole in the side of the battleship as the two ships collided side to side, but then had to retire from the battle and limped home to England.

The remaining ships of the 4th destroyer flotilla formed up behind Commander Walter Allen of Broke, who was the half-flotilla leader and now assumed command. At around 23.40 large ships were again sighted and Allen attempted to challenge. Before he could do so, the German battleship SMS Westfalen sent her own recognition signal and then turned on searchlights. Broke attempted to fire torpedoes, but the range was very short, in the region of 150 yards, and the German ship opened fire first. The effect was devastating so that within a couple of minutes 50 crew were killed and another 30 injured, disabling the guns and preventing any effective activity on deck. The helmsman was killed at the wheel, and as he died his body turned the wheel causing the ship to turn to port and ram Sparrowhawk. Both ships had already turned to port from line ahead to line abreast to fire torpedoes.

Sub Lieutenant Percy Wood saw Broke coming towards them at 28 knots, heading directly for Sparrowhawks bridge. He shouted warnings to crew on the foc'sle to get clear, and then was knocked over by the impact. He awoke to find himself lying on the deck of Broke. Wood reported to Commander Allen, who told him to return to his own ship and make preparations there to take onboard the crew of Broke. Two other men from Sparrowhawk were also thrown onto Broke by the collision. Returning to Sparrowhawk, Wood was told by his own captain, Lieutenant Commander Sydney Hopkins, that he had just sent exactly the same message across to Broke. Approximately 20 men from Sparrowhawk evacuated to Broke, while fifteen of Brokes crew crossed to Sparrowhawk.

At this point a third destroyer, HMS Contest steamed into Sparrowhawk, removing six feet from her stern. Contest was relatively unharmed and able to continue underway after the collision. Broke and Sparrowhawk remained wedged together for about half an hour before they could be separated and Broke got underway, taking 30 of Sparrowhawks crew with her. Broke remained able to manoeuvre, although she had lost her bow. At around 1.30 AM the ship again encountered German destroyers which fired about six rounds into Broke, which managed to return one shot before the ships separated. The ship proceeded slowly towards Britain but by 0600 on 2 June found that she could no longer travel into the high seas with her damaged bow and had to turn back towards Heligoland

Heligoland

Heligoland is a small German archipelago in the North Sea.Formerly Danish and British possessions, the islands are located in the Heligoland Bight in the south-eastern corner of the North Sea...

. The seas abated and the ship was able to head for the Tyne

River Tyne

The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...

, arriving some two and a half days after the engagement.

Other engagements

In April 1917, Broke - together with another large destroyer leader, HMS Swift

HMS Swift (1907)

HMS Swift was a unique destroyer leader designed and built for the Royal Navy prior to World War I, another product of Admiral "Jackie" Fisher's relentless quest for speed...

 - took part in the Battle of Dover Strait

Battle of Dover Strait

The Second Battle of Dover Strait was a naval battle of the First World War, fought in the Dover Strait in April 1917 and should not be confused with the major Battle of Dover Strait in 1916...

, during which Broke was severely damaged. HMS Broke was resold to Chile in May 1920, entering service with them as the Almirante Uribe.