HMS Cheerful (1897)

HMS Cheerful was a 30-knot, three-funnel torpedo boat destroyer built by Hawthorn Leslie. She was ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896 – 1897 Naval Estimates, launched in 1898 and saw action during World War I. She was mined off the Shetland Islands in 1917 and sank with the loss of 44 officers and men.

Construction
She was laid down on 7 September 1896 at the R.W. Hawthorn Leslie and Company shipyard at Hebburn-on-Tyne and launched on 14 July 1897. During her builder’s trials she made her contract speed of 30 knots. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in February 1900.

Service
After commissioning she was assigned to the Chatham Division of the Harwich Flotilla. She was deployed in home waters for her entire service life. In April 1900 she was present at Warf Pier, Brighton when HMS Desperate (1896) lost seven sailors in a boating accident.

On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by letters. She was assigned to the C class along with the other 3-funnel, 30-knot destroyers. After 30 September 1913 she was known as a C-class destroyer and had the letter ‘C’ painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel. Between 1912 and 1914 she had a wireless radio set installed.

In July 1914 she was in active commission in the 8th Destroyer Flotilla based at Sheerness and tendered to HMS Tyne (1878), the flotilla depot ship. Her duties included anti-submarine and counter-mining patrols.

On 26 September two torpedoes were fired at her 3 miles west of Fidra in the Firth of Forth. At the end of September 1914 she was redeployed to the Shetlands patrol based out of Scapa Flow. Here she was deployed in anti-submarine operations and defending the main fleet anchorage. In December 1914 she was given the pennant number P13; at the start of September 1915 this was changed to D49.

Loss
On 30 June 1917 while on patrol off the Shetland Islands she struck a contact mine that had been laid by German submarine UC-33. She sank with the loss of 44 officers and men in position 60° 02’N, 01° 07’W.