HMS Recruit (1896)

HMS Recruit was a Clydebank three funnel - 30 knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895 – 1896 Naval Estimates. She was the fifth ship to carry this name since it was introduced in 1806 for an 18-gun brig-sloop, sold in 1822.

Construction
She was laid down as Yard Number 290 on 18 October 1895 at J & G Thompson shipyard in Clydebank. Prior to launching she had her hull lengthened by 4 feet. She was launched on 22 August 1896. During her trials she had problems making her contract speed of 30 knots and was the last of this group to be completed. In 1899 during the construction of these ships, steelmaker John Brown and Company of Sheffield bought J&G Thomson's Clydebank yard for £923,255 3s 3d. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in October 1900.

Pre-War
After commissioning she was assigned to the Chatham Division of the Harwich Flotilla. She was deployed in Home waters for her entire service life.

On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by alpha characters starting with the letter 'A'. Since her design speed was 30-knots and she had three funnels she was assigned to the C Class. After 30 September 1913, she was known as an C Class destroyer and had the letter ‘C’ painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.

World War I
In 1914 she was in active commission at the Nore based at Shearness tendered to HMS Actaeon, a Royal Navy training establishment. With the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914 she was assigned to the Nore Local Flotilla. Her duties included anti-submarine and counter mining patrols in the Thames Estuary.

Loss
On 1 May 1915 while patrolling with HMS Brazen, she was sunk by German submarine UB-6 of the newly formed Flanders Flotilla in the southern North Sea, 30 miles south-west of the Galloper Light Vessel off the Thames Estuary, England. She broke in two and sank with the loss of 39 men, 4 officers and 22 crewmen were rescued.

NOTE: Many authors have a tendency to combine the facts about the loss of the R Class HMS Recruit and the C Class HMS Recruit. The C Class vessel was sunk by UB-6 30 miles south-west of the Galloper Light Vessel with the loss of 39 lives on 1 May 1915, whereas the R Class vessel was lost on 9 August 1917 in the North Sea either by mine or torpedo from UB-16 and went down with the loss of 54 officers and men.

She was not awarded a Battle Honour for her service.