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.
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.[1] The Acorns had an overall length of 246feet, a beam of 25feet, and a deep draught of 8feet. The ships displaced 772LT at deep load and their crew numbered 72 officers and ratings.[2]
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 13500shp and were designed for a speed of 27kn. Comet reached a speed of from during her sea trials.[3] The Acorns had a range of 1540nmi at a cruising speed of .[2]
The primary armament of the ships consisted of a pair of BL 4adj=onNaNadj=on MK VIII guns in single, unprotected pivot mounts fore and aft of the superstructure. They were also armed with two single QF 12-pounder (3inches) 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.[4]
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.[5]