HMS Phoenix was an Acheron-class

Acheron class destroyer

The Acheron class was a class of twenty-three destroyers of the British Royal Navy, all built under the 1910-11 Programme and completed between 1911 and 1912, which served during World War I. A further six ships were built to the same design for the Royal Australian Navy as River-class destroyers...

 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...

 of the British

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...

 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...

. She is named for the mythical bird

Phoenix (mythology)

The phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians....

, and was the fifteenth ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She was the only British warship ever to be sunk by the Austrian Navy.

Pennant Numbers

Pennant Number	From	|To
H75	6 December 1914	Unknown
H94	Unknown	Sunk 14 May 1918

History

Phoenix was ordered during the building programme of 1910-1911 and laid down by Vickers Limited

Vickers Limited

Vickers Limited was a famous British engineering conglomerate that merged into Vickers-Armstrongs in 1927.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...

 of Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...

. She was launched on 9 October 1911. Capable of 28 knots (54.9 km/h), she carried two 4 inches (102 mm) guns, other smaller guns and 21 inches (533.4 mm) torpedo tubes and had a complement of 72 men.

Career

At the beginning of the First World War, Phoenix was part of the First Destroyer Flotilla operating in the North Sea. She and her sisters were attached to the Grand Fleet as soon as the war started.

Action on 16 August 1914

On 16 August 1914, within days of the outbreak of war, the First Destroyer Flotilla engaged an enemy cruiser off the mouth of the Elbe, which is reported with great verve by an author writing under the pseudonym "Clinker Knocker" in 1938:

The Battle of Heligoland Bight

She was present with First Destroyer Flotilla on 28 August 1914 at the Battle of Heligoland Bight, led by the light cruiser Fearless

HMS Fearless (1912)

HMS Fearless was an Active-class scout cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built at Pembroke Dockyard and launched on 12 June 1912.On commissioning she was assigned to the Harwich Force with her sisters, and was the leader of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla...

. Phoenix suffered one man wounded during the action

The Battle of Dogger Bank

On 24 January 1915 Phoenix took part in the Battle of Dogger Bank

Battle of Dogger Bank (1915)

The Battle of Dogger Bank was a naval battle fought near the Dogger Bank in the North Sea on 24 January 1915, during the First World War, between squadrons of the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet....

, and her crew shared in the Prize Money for the German

Kaiserliche Marine

The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...

 armoured cruiser Blücher

SMS Blücher

SMS Blücher was the last armored cruiser to be built by the German Imperial Navy . She was designed to match what German intelligence incorrectly believed to be the specifications of the British s...

.

Transfer to Third Battle Squadron

The First Destroyer Flotilla was transferred to the Third Battle Squadron in the Spring of 1916 to act as an anti-submarine screen for the Battlecruisers. Phoenix was not present with her flotilla at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916.

HMAT Ballarat

Phoenix was escorting the Australian troopship Ballarat when she was attacked by a German submarine on Anzac Day

ANZAC Day

Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all...

 (25 April) 1917 in the English Channel. Although efforts were made to tow Ballarat to shallow water, she sank off The Lizard

The Lizard

The Lizard is a peninsula in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at ....

 the following morning. No lives were lost of the 1,752 souls on board, a striking testament to the calmness and discipline of the troops.

Mediterranean Service

In 1917 the Third Battle Squadron was sent to the Mediterranean, where they took part in the 1918 Naval campaign in the Adriatic, including enforcing the Otranto Barrage

Otranto Barrage

The Otranto Barrage was an Allied naval blockade of the Otranto Straits between Brindisi in Italy and Corfu on the Albanian side of the Adriatic Sea in World War I. The blockade was intended to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Navy from escaping into the Mediterranean and threatening Allied operations...

.

Loss

While patrolling the Otranto Barrage she was torpedoed amidships at 9:18 on 14 May 1918 by the Austro-Hungarian

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 submarine in the Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...

. HMAS Warrego made an unsuccessful attempt to tow her to Valona (now Vlorë

Vlorë

Vlorë is one of the biggest towns and the second largest port city of Albania, after Durrës, with a population of about 94,000 . It is the city where the Albanian Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on November 28, 1912...

in Albania), but she sank within sight of the port at 13:10 in position 40°23.5′N 19°14′E. The crew had been taken off before she capsized, and there were only two fatalities; a Leading Stoker and an Engine Room Artificer.