HMS Archer (1911)



HMS Archer was an Acheron-class destroyer built in 1911, which served during the First World War and was sold in 1921. She was the fourth ship of the name to serve in the Royal Navy.

Construction
She was laid down at the Yarrow & Company yard in Scotstoun, Glasgow, and was launched on 21 October 1911.

Archer and Attack used steam at higher pressures than the other Acheron-class destroyers and consequently were faster than the standard Admiralty-designed members of their class. Achieving 31 kn on trials, she carried two 4 in guns, other smaller guns and 21 in torpedo tubes and had a complement of 70 men.

Career
As part of the First Destroyer Flotilla, she was attached to the Grand Fleet in August 1914, and then to the Third Battle Squadron from the spring of 1916.

Battle of Heligoland Bight
As part of the Harwich Force, the First Destroyer Flotilla took part in the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914.

Mediterranean service
From 1917 the Third Battle Squadron was deployed to the Mediterranean. Archer was present at the entry of the Allied fleet through the Dardanelles on 12 November 1918.

Disposal
She was sold to Ward on 9 May 1921 for breaking.

HMS Archer in fiction
In Out of Time, a J D Stanton Mystery by Alton Gansky, the First World War Archer forms the scene of an adventure in which three adults and five teenagers find themselves lost in time after a storm at sea.