HMS Seahorse (1880) explained
-- warships except submarines -->| Ship Image: | HMS Howe being towed into Emsenanda de la Malata by HMS Seahorse with salvage steamers alongside RMG BHC3410 02.jpg | | Ship Caption: | HMS Seahorse |
| Ship Country: | United Kingdom | | Ship Name: | HMS Seahorse (pennant W.72 from 1918) | | Ship Namesake: | seahorse | | Ship Builder: | Laird Brothers | | Ship Yard Number: | 471 | | Ship Launched: | 7 July 1880 | | Ship Commissioned: | 20 January 1881[1] | | Ship Fate: | Sold 1 May 1920 to Crichton Thompson |
| Ship Country: | Spain | | Ship Name: | Chita | | Ship Namesake: | cheetah | | Ship Owner: | - 1921-1925: Arsenio Sanjurjo Igual, Santander
- 1925-1928: Luis Liaño, Santander
- 1928-1933: Nicolas Pardo y Pardo, Santander
| | Ship Fate: | Broken up in 1933 |
| Ship Displacement: | 670 tons | | Ship Length: | 160 ft pp, 168 feet overall | | Ship Beam: | 26 ft | | Ship Draught: | 10 ft[2] | | Ship Speed: | 12.5 knots | | Ship Complement: | 84[3] | | Ship Armament: | One 12 pounder or two six pounder |
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HMS Seahorse was a Royal Navy fleet tug, tender and survey ship built in 1880. She served until the end of the First World War and was subsequently sold for commercial service in Spain.
Description
HMS Seahorse was designed and built by Laird Brothers at Birkenhead for the Royal Navy as a fast deep-sea tug, suitable for handling their new classes of ironclad warship. In addition she was equipped for deployment as a fleet tender and despatch vessel.[4] Steel was used in both the engines and shafts and, in the form of Siemens-Martin steel from the Landore Steel Company, for the hull and upperworks.[5] Seahorses displacement was 670 tons, and dimensions 1601NaN1 length between perpendiculars, 1681NaN1 length overall, 261NaN1 beam and with 101NaN1 draught.[2] She was powered by a pair of compound steam engines totalling 1100 ihp driving twin screws.
Service history
Based at Portsmouth, as well as a fleet tug, Seahorse served in a variety of roles, including survey ship,[6] and was often described as a gunboat or "special service vessel".[7] [8] During the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882 Seahorse was additionally equipped with gatling guns and stationed at Port Said for towing and patrol duties in the Suez Canal.[9] [10] Amongst her salvage jobs was the battleship HMS Howe, which stranded on a shoal off Ferrol, Spain in November 1892 and could be refloated only five months later.[11] During the First World War she continued to be based at Portsmouth where she was used as a fleet tug, and later a rescue tug.[2]
Commercial service
On 1 May 1920 Seahorse was disposed of by the Admiralty to Crichton Thompson & Co Ltd, and resold to Arsenio Sanjurjo Igual of Santander, Spain, where she was renamed Chita. She changed hands twice at Santander, first to Luis Liaño in 1925 and then to Nicolas Pardo y Pardo in 1928. She was finally broken up at Santander in 1933.[12]
External links
The history of tug Chita (in Spanish)
Notes and References
- Web site: Seahorse, 1881 . P. Benyon Naval Database . 30 May 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20170810152640/http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/S/04187.html . 10 August 2017 .
- Web site: Support and harbour vessels . Naval History .net . 30 May 2015.
- Web site: Eng. Capt. Charles T. D. Greetham . Naval Historical Collectors & Research Association . 30 May 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150531015021/http://www.nhcra-online.org/19c/greetham1.html . 31 May 2015 .
- News: Naval and Military Intelligence. The Times. 30044. 20 November 1880. London. 5.
- Visits to Works. Journal of The Iron and Steel Institute. 1879. 2 March 2016.
- News: Naval and Military Intelligence. The Times. 34718. 26 October 1895. London. 11.
- News: Naval and Military Intelligence. The Times. 30366. 1 December 1881. London. 6.
- News: Naval and Military Intelligence. The Times. 30945. 8 October 1883. London. 7.
- News: Naval and Military Intelligence. The Times. 30605. 6 September 1882. London. 3.
- News: Naval and Military Intelligence. The Times. 30611. 13 September 1882. London. 3.
- News: The Howe. The Times. 33913. 31 March 1893. London. 7.
- Web site: Seahorse. Miramar Ship Index (subscription required). R B Haworth. 14 January 2020. Wellington NZ.
