Author Topic: HMS Acteon,Burntwick Island  (Read 8629 times)

Offline grandarog

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Re: HMS Acteon,Burntwick Island
« Reply #11 on: June 11, 2022, 07:19:52 AM »
       Way back during my RAF service I went to HM Shore Base Vernon at Portsmouth during 1960 for a course on Airborne Mk 30 Torpedos ,which we dropped from our Shackletons.
       As we were vitalled in that meant a tot every lunch time.
       It was very active base with loads of courses for various trades going on.
      If I remember correct the worlds deepest diver training tank was there .
      Historically the gates on the base were finally closed in 1996 and the training facilities were moved elsewhere.

Offline Admiral D

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Re: HMS Acteon,Burntwick Island
« Reply #10 on: June 10, 2022, 04:02:40 PM »
HMS Acteon

Offline stuartwaters

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Re: HMS Acteon,Burntwick Island
« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2021, 01:23:24 PM »
Yes, 74-gun ships of the line were between 165 and 185 feet long and carried crews of about 650 men when fully armed and fitted for sea.
"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.

Offline MartinR

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Re: HMS Acteon,Burntwick Island
« Reply #8 on: September 26, 2021, 01:13:51 PM »
Thanks Stuart.  Not that small then at 1700 tons.  With a lighter build that suggests heading towards 170' long with 500+ souls on board?

Offline stuartwaters

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Re: HMS Acteon, Burntwick Island
« Reply #7 on: September 26, 2021, 12:55:17 PM »
The Fourth Rate was the point in the Royal Navy's Rating System where ships of the line met Frigates. In other words, it contained the largest Frigates and the smallest ships of the line. HMS Leopard was a ship of the line of 50 guns, which carried her guns on two complete gundecks, one of the smallest ships of the line and a type of ship which was verging on obsolete even at the time she was built. HMS Vernon/Actaeon was a large, spar-decked Frigate, similar to the ones made famous by the Americans during the War of 1812. Spar-decked means that although they carried their guns on two decks, the upper deck guns were actually out in the open and that the ships were built with a single dedicated enclosed gun deck. The Spar Deck was a single continuous deck running from bows to stern and made for a stronger hull than the more traditional forecastle and quarterdeck arrangement used on earlier Frigates. The large, 56-gun spar-decked Frigates were actually larger than a 50-gun ship of the line, but were more lightly built. HMS Vernon/Actaeon would have actually been similar in size to a 74-gun Third Rate ship of the line and would have weighed in around the 1600 - 1800 ton mark.


A Fourth Rate ship carried between 46 and 60 guns.



HMS Vernon/Actaeon would have carried 24pdr long guns on her gundeck and heavy carronades (usually 42pdrs) on her spar deck. At the time she was built, weapons technology was advancing rapidly. The advent of the explosive shell made wooden-hulled warships obsolete and within thirty years of the ship's launch, the Royal Navy was building iron-clad and then iron-hulled warships.


HMS Excellent, the ship to which HMS Vernon/Actaeon became a tender was originally built as the 98-gun Second Rate ship of the line HMS Boyne at Portsmouth. She was built to the same design as the previous HMS Boyne, which had caught fire and blown up in Portsmouth Harbour in 1795.  That particular design was even older and was actually a slight modification of the design of HMS Victory, originally floated out of the No2 Dry Dock at Chatham in 1765. The second HMS Boyne had been launched in 1810, renamed to HMS Excellent and converted into a gunnery training ship in 1834, renamed again to HMS Queen Charlotte in 1859 before being broken up in Portsmouth in 1861. As tender to HMS Excellent, HMS Vernon/Actaeon would have just acted as an overspill accommodation hulk.


A print of the HMS Excellent Gunnery School circa 1872. The ships are HMS Excellent (foreground), HMS Calcutta (84 - middle) and HMS Vernon (background).





A photo of HMS Vernon in 1896 (by now renamed to HMS Actaeon)





HMS Actaeon in 1904





HMS Actaeon on her way to the breakers in 1923


"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.

Offline MartinR

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Re: HMS Acteon,Burntwick Island
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2021, 06:29:45 PM »
"Small" is a bit relative.  If she was built as a fourth rater she would be around 150' long by 40' beam weighing in at about 1,000 tons.  She would have mounted about 50 guns (±10) and would originally probably have been a fully rigged ship (ie three masts with square sails on each).  However, what state she was in as a tender is anyone's guess.  Rigs were often cut down and even the number of masts changed.  I've taken the dimensions from HMS Leopard of 1790 which was another fourth rater.

Offline Sidw

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Re: HMS Acteon,Burntwick Island
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2021, 05:31:46 PM »

Martin R, I have photo of HMS Vernon (the torpedo school tender) somewhere, a very small vessel. The torpedo school and gunnery school you mention wer at Portsmouth. Torpedoes were different in those days, charges lobbed at the side of a targeted ship. Until I find the photo, try googling. And if I may, look at this page:


https://sandowe.com/2017/11/29/sidney-sandoes-ships/

I had a quick look to see if Stuart had done one of his excellent pieces on her, but apparently not.  Next I looked in Wiki, and it appears that she was originally HMS Vernon before being renamed in 1886...... 

Offline stuartwaters

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Re: HMS Acteon,Burntwick Island
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2021, 06:36:50 PM »
I had a quick look to see if Stuart had done one of his excellent pieces on her, but apparently not.  Next I looked in Wiki, and it appears that she was originally HMS Vernon before being renamed in 1886.  All that Wiki has is:
Quote
HMS Vernon was a 50-gun fourth rate launched in 1832.  She became tender to the Navy's gunnery school HMS Excellent, and then the torpedo school ship in 1876.  She was renamed HMS Actaeon in 1886 and sold in 1923.
So then I checked the forum for HMS Vernon, but again no luck I'm afraid.


Very kind words, thank you. There may well be a future article about this ship, she was built at the Woolwich Royal Dockyard, so she was one of 'ours'. A quick look has told me there isn't a lot of information out there about the ship. A very quick look, so a bit of digging might well reveal more. I'll look into it when I've finished the one I have in the works now.
"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.

pete.mason

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Re: HMS Acteon,Burntwick Island
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2021, 02:30:21 PM »
Fire on HMS Acteon, At Sheerness Dockyard yesterday an outbreak of fire occured on board the Torpedo School Ship HMS Acteon whichlies moored in Stangate Creek halfway between Chatham & Sheerness. The Tugs Diligent, Robust and Grinder along with the Firefloat Clinker were sent at full speed. Commander Dawson had the crew of the ship piped to Fire Quarters and prompt measures were taken. The outbreak occured midships on the starboard side. Fortunatley when the tugs arrived the fire had been got under


Evening Express 29 December 1910

Offline MartinR

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Re: HMS Acteon,Burntwick Island
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2021, 12:39:44 PM »
I had a quick look to see if Stuart had done one of his excellent pieces on her, but apparently not.  Next I looked in Wiki, and it appears that she was originally HMS Vernon before being renamed in 1886.  All that Wiki has is:
Quote
HMS Vernon was a 50-gun fourth rate launched in 1832.  She became tender to the Navy's gunnery school HMS Excellent, and then the torpedo school ship in 1876.  She was renamed HMS Actaeon in 1886 and sold in 1923.
So then I checked the forum for HMS Vernon, but again no luck I'm afraid.

Offline grandarog

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HMS Acteon,Burntwick Island
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2021, 10:45:50 AM »

An article I wrote some time ago for our Parish Magazine.

Busy time for the Vicar
         In the years preceding WW1 and during the War HMS Actaeon  served as a Torpedo School for the Royal Navy. Most literature shows HMS Actaeon as based at Sheerness. In fact she was Hulked at Burntwick Island . Victualed and administered under the Sheerness Command.
          Serving her training role HMS Actaeon  was host to numerous visiting Ships for Torpedo Training. Mainly these ships were Destroyers such as HMS Cygnet, Electra ,Kestrel,Saracen and Zephyr . Motor Torpedo Boats which weren’t named but numbered some such as  8,10, 12 ,79.114 ,204 . These vessels had their crews on board to complete the training.
    Burntwick Island , in those days was part of Upchurch Parish so the men on the ships were Parishioners. Between the years 1910 and 1916 lots of the sailors aboard the ships were intent on Marriage. As Parishioners their Banns of Marriage had to be read in the Parish on 3 consecutive Sundays .This must have imposed a huge burden on the Vicar conducting the services. Tedious and boring for the Congregation to have to listen to names of strangers.
Of all the Banns read over those years only 2 were for Upchurch ladies, followed by their Marriages at St Mary’s
]Arthur Lamb .RN to Emily Jane Hawkins. 1911
Frank Still  .RN  to Louisa Jane Robinson .1916
Both families bore children locally,
Winnie,William. John ,Herbert  to Arthur and Jane.
]Ivy, Olive and Percy to Frank and Louisa.
      Can’t help but wonder how many of their descendants could be reading this!