In April 1899, the British Admiralty placed an order with the Jarrow shipbuilder Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited for three torpedo boat destroyers,, and Syren, for the Royal Navy under a supplement to the 1899–1900 shipbuilding programme. with a contract price being £47149 per ship. Syren was laid down (as Yard number 752) on 24 November 1899, and was launched on 20 December 1900, completing in February 1902.
Syren closely resembled, built by Palmers under the previous year's shipbuilding programme, and like Spiteful had four funnels. She was 219inchesft6inchesin (ftin) long overall, with a beam of 20inchesft9inchesin (ftin) and a draught of 8inchesft11inchesin (ftin). Displacement was 370LT light and 420LT full load. Four Reed boilers fed steam at to triple expansion steam engines rated at 6200ihp and driving two propeller shafts, giving a speed of . 91 tons of coal were carried.
Armament was a single QF 12 pounder 12 cwt (3inches) gun on a platform on the ship's conning tower (in practice the platform was also used as the ship's bridge), backed up by five 6-pounder guns, and two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.
HMS Syren was commissioned at Portsmouth on 10 April 1902 by Lieutenant and Commander the Hon. Herbert Meade and the crew of the destroyer, taking the place of Teazer in the instructional flotilla.[1] Less than a month later, she had one of her funnels damaged in a collision with the service yacht off Portsmouth.[2] She was quickly repaired at Devonport, re-joined the flotilla in mid-June,[3] and took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII.[4]
In September 1902 she ran a series of trials to test Reed′s automatic lubricator, with the Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, Admiral Sir Charles Frederick Hotham on board.[5] Lieutenant Henry Brocklebank was appointed in command on 5 November 1902.[6]
Whilst under the command of Sidney Olivier, Syren ran aground at Berehaven, Ireland during naval manoeuvres on 1 May 1905. She was badly damaged, with the forward part of the ship wrecked, but the aft part of the ship was salvaged and a new bow reconstructed.[7] [8] [9]
Syren was part of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla in 1910.[7] On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyers were to be grouped into classes designated by letters based on contract speed and appearance. As a four-funneled 30-knotter destroyer, Syren was assigned to the B Class. In 1912, older destroyers were organised into Patrol Flotillas, with Syren being part of the 6th Flotilla, based at Portsmouth, in March 1913.[10] She remained part of the 6th Flotilla in July 1914, on the eve of the outbreak of the First World War.[11]
The 6th Flotilla, including Syren, mobilised and transferred to its war station at Dover (as part of the Dover Patrol) on 31 July–1 August 1914. The Flotilla's role was to prevent German warships from passing into the English Channel.[12] Syren took part in the landing of a force of Royal Marines at Ostend on 27 August 1914. On 28 October 1914, Syren was on anti-submarine patrol off Westende in Belgium with when the two ships came under fire from the shore. Falcon was hit, killing 8 and wounding 15 of her crew.
On 24 February 1915 Syren went to the assistance of the steamship, which had been torpedoed by the German submarine near Beachy Head, hunting the submarine and rescuing Harpalions crew which she took into Newhaven. On 4 March 1915, the German submarine U-8 became caught in nets laid across the Straits of Dover to indicate the passage of submarines, and the disturbance in the net was spotted by the drifter Roburn and the destroyer . Destroyers patrolling locally were ordered to hunt arched for the submarine, while duty submarines at Dover, including Syren were ordered out to join the hunt. The destroyer detonated her explosive anti-submarine sweep without effect, but after the submarine was spotted by Maori, used her own explosive sweep to force the German submarine to the surface. The submarine was then shelled by the assembled destroyers, and was quickly scuttled and abandoned.[13]
On 1 August 1916 Syren sighted a German submarine passing Dover, she opened fire on the submarine and dropped depth charges, but with no effect. Syren remained part of the Dover Patrol until the end of the war, leaving on 24 November 1918. The ship was sold for scrap to Hayes of Porthcawl on 14 September 1920.
| Pennant number | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| P72 | 1914 | Sep 1915 | |
| D93 | Sep 1915 | Jan 1918 | |
| D85 | Jan 1918 | - |