HMS Hoste (1916)

HMS "Hoste" was a "Parker"-class flotilla leader of the Royal Navy. She was built by Cammell Laird during the First World War, completing on 13 November 1916, but was lost in a collision with the destroyer on 21 December that year.
Construction and design.
In July 1915, the British Admiralty ordered three s (i.e. large destroyers intended to lead flotillas of smaller destroyers in action), "Hoste", and , from the Birkenhead shipyard Cammell Laird. The "Parker"-class was an improved version of the earlier with the ships' bridge moved rearwards, and an improved gun layout.
The "Parker"s were long overall and between perpendiculars, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was between and normal and about full load. Four Yarrow boilers fed steam to three sets of Parsons steam turbines, rated at and giving a speed of . Three funnels were fitted. of oil fuel were carried, giving a range of at .
The ship's main gun armament consisted of four QF Mk IV guns mounted on the ships centreline, with the forward two guns superfiring so that one could fire over the other, with one gun between the second and third funnel and one aft. Two 2-pounder (40 mm) "pom-pom" anti-aircraft guns were fitted, while torpedo armament consisted of two sets of twin 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. The standard anti-submarine armament for flotilla leaders such as "Hoste" from June 1916 onwards was two Type D depth charges on chutes. This was not increased until after "Hoste"s loss. The ship's complement was 116 officers and men.
"Hoste", named for William Hoste, was laid down on 1 July 1915, launched on 16 August 1916 and commissioned on 13 November 1916.
Service.
On commissioning, "Hoste" joined the Thirteenth Destroyer Flotilla, part of the Grand Fleet, with the pennant number G90. On 19 December 1916, the Grand Fleet left Scapa Flow to carry out exercises between Shetland and Norway. On the morning of 20 December, "Hoste" suffered a failure of her steering gear at high speed, almost colliding with several other ships, and was detached to return to Scapa with the destroyer as escort. At about 01:30 hr on 21 December, in extremely poor weather, with gale-force winds and a heavy sea, "Hoste"s rudder jammed again, forcing the ship into a sudden turn to port. "Negro", following about behind, collided with "Hoste". The collision knocked two depth charges off "Hoste"s stern which exploded, badly damaging the rear end of "Hoste" and blowing in the bottom of "Negro"s hull, flooding her engine room. "Negro" sank quickly, and despite the efforts of the destroyer to rescue survivors, 51 officers and men of "Negro"s crew were killed. "Marmion" and attempted to tow the crippled "Hoste" back to Scapa, but after three hours, "Hoste" began to founder. Despite the severe conditions, "Marvel" went alongside "Hoste" to rescue the crew of the sinking ship, and when repeatedly forced apart by the heavy seas, repeated the manoeuvre another twelve time. While "Marvel" sustained damage to her forecastle from repeated impacts between the two ships, she managed to rescue all but four of "Hoste"s crew before "Hoste" finally sank. Eight officers and 126 men were rescued by "Marvel".