HMS Chamois (1896)

HMS Chamois was a Palmer three funnel, 30 knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895 – 1896 Naval Estimates. She was the first ship of the Royal Navy to carry this name. She was commissioned in 1897 and served in both the Channel and the Mediterranean. She foundered in 1904 after her own propeller pierced her hull.

Construction
She was laid down on 28 May 1896 as yard number 713 at the Palmer shipyard at Jarrow-on-Tyne and launched on 9 November 1896. During her builder’s trials she met her contracted speed requirement. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in November 1897.

Service
After commissioning she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. She was re-commisoned at Portsmouth 5 September 1901 by Lieutenant W. E. Woodward, with the crew of the Albatross, to replace that vessel on the Mediterranean Station. She was later deployed as a tender to the destroyer depot ship HMS Leander (1882) at Malta.

Loss
On 26 September 1904, while under the command of Lieutenant and Commander Sydney harold Tennyson, she was the victim of a bizarre accident. While conducting a full power trial in the Gulf of Patras off the Greek coast she lost a propeller blade. The loss of the blade unbalanced the shaft, which was spinning at high speed. The resulting vibration broke the shaft bracket and tore a large hole in the hull. She sank by the stern in 30 fathom of water about 2 nmi from the coast north of the modern village of Araxos. All hands were saved, but one engineer was wounded and another scalded.