HMS Vulcan was a British
torpedo boat depot ship launched in 1889, later converted to a submarine tender in 1908-09.[1] As a training
hulk, she was renamed HMS Defiance III in 1931 and used for training at
Torpoint, Cornwall. She was scrapped in
Belgium in 1955.
Construction
The increasing numbers of
torpedo boats which had entered service produced the need for a specialist support ship. Vulcan could carry six torpedo boats on her deck and had repair workshops and equipment stores. She had an armoured deck and could act as a light cruiser.[2]
Service history
Vulcan was launched on 13 June 1889. Captain
Henry Jackson was appointed in command in December 1899, when she served as a torpedo depot ship on the
Mediterranean Station. Captain
Charles John Briggs was appointed in command on 12 December 1901.[3]
By 1919, Vulcan was serving as a
depot ship. On 18 October 1919, she was in harbour at
Blyth,
Northumberland (NZ319816) for repairs to her main engines and moored a few yards from the Royal Navy
submarineHMS H41 when, during the afternoon, she built up a head of steam and began to carry out a slow-speed
trial. In the restricted waters of the dock basin the suction from Vulcan′s propellers drew H41 towards her and, despite the efforts of both crews to keep the two vessels apart, Vulcan′s screws struck the
stern of the submarine, cut through her outer casing, and sliced open her
pressure hull. H41 sank quickly, but her crew escaped.[4]H41 later was raised and sold for scrap.
In February 1930,
HMS Titania returned to England from a 10-year period based in
Hong Kong and was ordered to relieve HMS Vulcan as
depot ship of the Sixth Flotilla. Her arrival in England was reported in The Straits Times on 11 February 1930 as follows:[5]
SUBMARINES FROM CHINA
H.M.S. Titania, Commander A. B. Lockhart, D.S.C., which on her arrival home from China with submarines of the Fourth Flotilla, was ordered to relieve H.M.S. Vulcan, depot ship of the Sixth Flotilla,
Portland.
She will retain her seagoing status. Of the six submarines returning with her, one will be retained in full commission to relieve H34 in the Fifth Flotilla. Submarine L3, completed in 1918, will be scrapped. The remaining four submarines will be reduced to reserve at
Fort Blockhouse.
Brown, Les (2023). Royal Navy Torpedo Vessels. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.
ISBN978-1-3990-2285-9.
Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben & Bush, Steve (2020). Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (5th revised and updated ed.). Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.
ISBN978-1-5267-9327-0.
Clowes, William Laird (1903). The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Present. Vol. 7. London: S. Low, Marston. (available at
internet archive)