HMS Raider (1916)

HMS Raider was the second of a class of sixty two destroyers operated by the Royal Navy. Launched in 1916, the vessel served with the Grand Fleet during World War I. The destroyer was built as part of the preceding but was equipped with geared turbines which improved efficiency and increased range. The ship was involved in anti-submarine patrols, but did not sink any German submarines. After the war, the destroyer initially moved to Harwich and was briefly stationed in Ireland after the Irish Civil War. In 1923, the Navy decided to retire the older destroyers in the fleet and, although initially spared, Raider was decommissioned and sold to be broken up in 1927. R-class destroyer Raider was originally ordered by the British Admiralty in May 1915 as part of the Sixth War Construction Programme as one of eighteen destroyers. Instead, the ship was equipped, as had sister ship , with geared steam turbines and so became the second prototype for the R-class. The new engines proved to be more efficient, providing a greater range for a given quantity of fuel. Comparative trials between the destroyers and showed a 15% saving in fuel oil at and 28% at . The destroyer had a length of between perpendiculars and overall, with a beam of and a mean draught of . Displacement was normal and deep load. Power was provided by three Yarrow boilers feeding two Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines rated at and driving two shafts, to give a design speed of . Three funnels were fitted. A total of of fuel oil was carried, giving a design range of at . Armament consisted of three single QF Mk IV QF guns on the ship's centreline, with one on the forecastle, one aft on a raised platform and one between the central and aft funnels. A single QF 2-pounder "pom-pom" anti-aircraft gun was carried, while torpedo armament consisted of two twin rotating mounts for torpedoes. The ship had a complement of 82 officers and ratings. Raider was laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend on the River Tyne in October 1915 and given the yard number 1007.