HMS Grive
HMS Grive. 23/12/1917
Displacement: 2037 grt.
Length: 88.8m. Beam: 12.5 m. Draught: m.
Propulsion: 1 x 3 cyl. triple expansion steam engine, single shaft, 1 screw
Machinery: Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. (Lilybank Foundry), Dundee
Complement: officers and men.
Crew Lost: 0
Armament: 2 x 4.7 inch
SS Grive was built by the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. (Lilybank Foundry), Dundee in 1905 for General Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., London. Requisitioned by the Royal Navy as an Armed Boarding Vessel.
Displacement: 2037 grt.
Length: 88.8m. Beam: 12.5 m. Draught: m.
Propulsion: 1 x 3 cyl. triple expansion steam engine, single shaft, 1 screw
Machinery: Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. (Lilybank Foundry), Dundee
Complement: officers and men.
Crew Lost: 0
Armament: 2 x 4.7 inch
SS Grive was built by the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. (Lilybank Foundry), Dundee in 1905 for General Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., London. Requisitioned by the Royal Navy as an Armed Boarding Vessel.
General Steam Navigation Company House Flag.
Taken from evidence given in the Court of Enquiry into loss of HMS Grive -ADM137/3712.
On the 8th December 1917 HMS Grive was approaching Shetland having sailed from Murmansk, Russia with HM Yachts, HM trawlers and other Armed Boarding Vessels. At 1.25pm when five miles east of Bard Head, Bressay there was an explosion under the stern. No periscope was seen or torpedo track and it was unclear if the ship had been torpedoed or had struck a mine. Considerable damage had been done to the stern, steering gear, crew quarters were badly damaged, the stern post and propeller blown away.
Number 3 & 4 holds were flooding and HMS Grive was settling by the stern. The engine room was abandoned as engineers said nothing more could be done so all unnecessary crew left in the ships boats and were taken onboard HM trawlers.
HMT Sparrow and HMT Strathrye passed wires to HMS Grive and towed the vessel into Bressay Sound. The holds on Grive were packed with wood to allow ship to remain afloat if torpedoed. Once in Bressay Sound the tug Peewit took over the tow and the trawler Sir Mark Sykes tied alongside to help manoeuvre ship.
At 5.20pm HMS Grive was beached in Lerwick.
After some repairs it was decided to tow HMS Grive for dry dock. The tugs Pursuit, La Valleta, Peewit and HM Trawlers Saxon, Lord Lansdowne and Tenby Castle left Lerwick in calm weather but with poor weather forecast. The weather worsened as the boats approached Orkney and HMS Grive started taking on water. The tug La Valleta fouled her propeller with the tow rope and the tow became unmanageable. At some stage the Tug Peewit had become separated and could not be contacted to provide assistance.
Number 3 & 4 holds were flooding and HMS Grive was settling by the stern. The engine room was abandoned as engineers said nothing more could be done so all unnecessary crew left in the ships boats and were taken onboard HM trawlers.
HMT Sparrow and HMT Strathrye passed wires to HMS Grive and towed the vessel into Bressay Sound. The holds on Grive were packed with wood to allow ship to remain afloat if torpedoed. Once in Bressay Sound the tug Peewit took over the tow and the trawler Sir Mark Sykes tied alongside to help manoeuvre ship.
At 5.20pm HMS Grive was beached in Lerwick.
After some repairs it was decided to tow HMS Grive for dry dock. The tugs Pursuit, La Valleta, Peewit and HM Trawlers Saxon, Lord Lansdowne and Tenby Castle left Lerwick in calm weather but with poor weather forecast. The weather worsened as the boats approached Orkney and HMS Grive started taking on water. The tug La Valleta fouled her propeller with the tow rope and the tow became unmanageable. At some stage the Tug Peewit had become separated and could not be contacted to provide assistance.
Taken from KTB UC40.
UC40.
Despite the uncertainty onboard HMS Grive on the 8th December as to the cause of the explosion it was a torpedo from UC40 (Kptlt Hermann Menzel ) that had done the damage. UC40 reports firing one torpedo and hit the ship in the stern. Menzel reports ship not sinking but unable to fire another torpedo due to the amount of vessels patrolling the area after the attack.
HMT Tenby Castle Log Book. 23rd December 1917.
Taken from logbook of HMY Tenby Castle ADM53/62582.
''6.00pm Signal received from HMS Grive that vessel is sinking and the crew will abandon ship. Standing by to pick up boats. Picked up 18 men from one boat and continued to stand by ship in company with HMT Saxon and Lord Lansdowne & tugs Pursuit and La Valleta. HMS Grive sank. Received orders from HMS Saxon to proceed to Kirkwall with survivors.
Dennis Hd Lt House bore WSW dist. 3 miles''.
Taken from logbook of HMY Tenby Castle ADM53/62582.
''6.00pm Signal received from HMS Grive that vessel is sinking and the crew will abandon ship. Standing by to pick up boats. Picked up 18 men from one boat and continued to stand by ship in company with HMT Saxon and Lord Lansdowne & tugs Pursuit and La Valleta. HMS Grive sank. Received orders from HMS Saxon to proceed to Kirkwall with survivors.
Dennis Hd Lt House bore WSW dist. 3 miles''.
Western Daily Press - Tuesday 01 January 1918
NAVAL MISHAP. TWO MORE SHIPS TORPEDOED NINE LIVES LOST. PRESS ASSOCIATION WAR .SPECIAL LONDON,
Monday. The. Secretary the Admiralty announces:— HM. Mine Sweeping Sloop * Arbutus (Commander Charles H. Oxlade, R.D., R.N.R.) has foundered in very severe weather after being torpedoed. Her commander, one other officer and seven men are missing, and presumed drowned. All s the next-of-kin have be informed. H.M. Armed Boarding Steamer Grive (commander Stephen A. Pidgeon, R.D., R.N.R, has also been sunk in bad weather after being torpedoed. There were no casualties.
NAVAL MISHAP. TWO MORE SHIPS TORPEDOED NINE LIVES LOST. PRESS ASSOCIATION WAR .SPECIAL LONDON,
Monday. The. Secretary the Admiralty announces:— HM. Mine Sweeping Sloop * Arbutus (Commander Charles H. Oxlade, R.D., R.N.R.) has foundered in very severe weather after being torpedoed. Her commander, one other officer and seven men are missing, and presumed drowned. All s the next-of-kin have be informed. H.M. Armed Boarding Steamer Grive (commander Stephen A. Pidgeon, R.D., R.N.R, has also been sunk in bad weather after being torpedoed. There were no casualties.
The Wreck Today.
A wreck was located in 2001 in position 59°25,199'N 02°21,168'W, in 55m of water, by Netsurvey on the MV Anglian Monarch. In 2008 SULA Diving of Stromness established the identity as HMS Grive. This was achieved by analysis of the multi beam image matched against the ships plans, archive research, and obtaining a copy of the logbook of HMT Tenby Castle which gave the position of the sinking.
The wreck was first dived in 2010 by a group, which included Matt Outram & Richard Ayrton, diving off the Stromness boat MV Jean Elaine, skippered by Andy Cuthbertson.
The identify was confirmed later in 2010 when the bell was recovered.
MBES HMS Grive (UKHO/Netsurvey)
Photographs Courtesy of Richard Ayrton.
