HMS Sidon: Difference between revisions
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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} |
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Two ships of the British [[Royal Navy]] have borne the name |
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{{Use British English|date=April 2017}} |
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<b>HMS <i>Sidon</i></b>, named for [[Sidon]], a city in [[Lebanon]]. |
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Two ships of the [[Royal Navy]] have been named '''HMS ''Sidon''''' after the [[Egyptian–Ottoman War (1839–41)|naval bombardment]] of [[Sidon]] a city in [[Lebanon]] in 1840. |
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* {{HMS|Sidon|1846}} was a first-class paddle [[frigate]] launched in 1846 and scrapped in 1864. |
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The first HMS <i>Sidon</i> (1846) was a first-class paddle [[frigate]] designed by Sir [[Charles Napier]]. Her keel was laid down [[May 26]], [[1845]] at Deptford Dockyard. She was [[ship naming and launching|launched]] [[May 26]], [[1846]]. She had a fairly short career for a warship, but it included and the rescue of the crew of the sinking Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation vessel <i>Ariel</i> on [[May 28]], [[1848]], and a trip up the [[Nile]] that same year. She was broken up in July [[1864]]. |
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* {{HMS|Sidon|P259}} was a [[British S-class submarine (1931)|S-class]] [[submarine]] launched in 1944. She sank in [[Portland harbour]] in 1955 as a result of an accidental torpedo explosion, was subsequently raised and then sunk as a target in 1957. |
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==References== |
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=== General Characteristics === |
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* {{Cite Colledge2006}} |
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* Displacement: 1316 tons |
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* Length: 211 feet |
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* Beam: 37 feet |
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* Draught: 27 feet |
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* Engines: two direct-acting Seaward engines making 560 horsepower |
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* Speed: 10 knots |
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* Armament |
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** Middle Deck |
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*** 14 eight-inch/60-hundredweight guns |
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*** two 68-pounder/88-hundredweight pivots (fore and aft) |
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** Quarter Deck: four eight-inch/52-hundredweight on slides |
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** Fo'c'sle: two eight-inch/52-hundredweight on slides. |
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* Silhouette: 3 masts, 2 funnels |
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{{Ship index}} |
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---- |
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{{Italic title prefixed|3}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidon}} |
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The second HMS <i>Sidon</i> was launched in September [[1944]], |
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[[Category:Royal Navy ship names]] |
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one of the third group of [[S-class submarine]]s built by |
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[[Cammell Laird]] & Co Limited, [[Birkenhead]]. |
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On the morning of [[June 16]], [[1955]], <i>Sidon</i> |
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was moored alongside the depot ship [[HMS Maidstone|HMS <i>Maidstone</i>]] in [[Portland Harbour]]. Two experimental [[torpedo]]es, code-named "Fancy," had been loaded aboard for testing. 56 officers and crewmen were aboard. |
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At 8:25am, an explosion in one of the Fancy torpedos (but not the warhead) burst the number-three torpedo tube it was loaded into and ruptured the forward-most two watertight bulkheads. As always in explosions aboard submarines, fire, toxic gasses, and smoke accompanied the blast. |
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Twelve men in the forward compartments died quickly and seven others were seriously injured. |
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The submarine started to settle by the bows with a list to starboard, and her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Verry, ordered the ship evacuated from the engine room and after escape hatches. Thanks to a rescue party from <i>Maidstone</i>, everyone not immediately killed escaped, except <i>Maidstone</i>'s medical officer. He had gone aboard with the rescue party, assisted several survivors, |
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and collapsed, unnoticed, in the control room after everyone else had left. At about 8:50 <i>Sidon</i> sank to the bottom of the harbour. |
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One week later the wreck was raised and towed into a causeway on Chesil Beach. The bodies of the 13 casualties were removed and buried with full honours in the |
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[[Portland Naval Cemetery]] on top of the cliffs overlooking the harbour. A [[Court of Inquiry]] cleared anyone aboard <i>Sidon</i> for the loss of the boat. The direct cause of the accident was determined to have been malfunctioning of the "Fancy" torpedo, and that torpedo program was terminated. |
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A torpedo being readied for the morning test shot had begun a "hot-run" -- its engine had started while it was still inside the submarine and was over-speeding, creating very high pressures in its fuel system. The "Fancy" torpedo used [[hydrogen peroxide|"High Test Peroxide" (HTP)]] as an oxidizer. When an oxidizer line burst, HTP sprayed onto the copper fittings inside the torpedo, decomposing into oxygen and steam. The torpedo's warhead did not detonate, but its hull burst violently, rupturing the torpedo tube and causing the flooding that destroyed the boat. |
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It is likely that similar circumstances initiated the sequence of events that caused the loss of [[Russian submarine Kursk|<i>Kursk</i>]] on [[August 12]], [[2000]]. |
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<i>Sidon</i> was refloated, and sunk as an [[ASDIC]] target on [[June 14]], [[1957]]. |
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=== General Characteristics === |
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* Displacement: 814-872 tons surfaced, 990 submerged |
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* Length: 217 feet |
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* Beam: 23.5 feet |
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* Draught: 11 feet |
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* Speed: 14.75 knots surfaced, 8 knots submerged |
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* Armament: one three-inch gun, one 20mm antiaircraft gun; three .303 machine guns |
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* Torpedo Tubes: seven 21-inch (six forward, one aft), 13 torpedoes |
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* Complement: 48 |
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Latest revision as of 14:35, 16 January 2022
Two ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Sidon after the naval bombardment of Sidon a city in Lebanon in 1840.
- HMS Sidon (1846) was a first-class paddle frigate launched in 1846 and scrapped in 1864.
- HMS Sidon (P259) was a S-class submarine launched in 1944. She sank in Portland harbour in 1955 as a result of an accidental torpedo explosion, was subsequently raised and then sunk as a target in 1957.
References
[edit]- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists.