HMS Comet was one of 20 s built for the Royal Navy in the 1910s. Completed in 1911 she saw active service in the First World War.
Design and description The Acorn class marked a return to oil-firing as pioneered in the Tribal or F class of 1905 and of 1907. The Admiralty provided general specifications, but each shipyard did their own detailed design so that ships often varied in size.Gardiner & Gray, p. 74 The Acorns had an overall length of , a beam of , and a deep draught of . The ships displaced at deep load and their crew numbered 72 officers and ratings.Friedman, p. 295
The destroyers were powered by a single Parsons steam turbine that drove three propeller shafts using steam provided by four Yarrow boilers. The engines developed a total of and were designed for a speed of . Comet reached a speed of from during her sea trials.March, p. 109 The Acorns had a range of at a cruising speed of .
The primary armament of the ships consisted of a pair of BL MK VIII guns in single, unprotected pivot mounts fore and aft of the superstructure. They were also armed with two single QF 12-pounder () guns, one on each broadside between the forward and centre funnels. The destroyer were equipped with a pair of single rotating mounts for 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes amidships and carried two reload torpedoes.Friedman, pp. 119, 295
Construction and career
Comet was ordered under the 1909–1910 Naval Programme from Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company. The ship was laid down at the company's Govan shipyard on 1 February 1910, launched on 23 June and commissioned in June 1911. She was torpedoed and sunk on 6 August 1918.Friedman, p. 306
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