HMS Scott

Three ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Scott. The first ship was named after Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet. The later ships were named after the Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott:

References

HMS Scott (1917)

HMS Scott was the first of a new destroyer leader class built to be flotilla leaders for the V- and W-class destroyers. She was ordered during the First World War in 1916, and the class would unofficially be named after her. The ship herself was the first to bear the name Scott and was named after Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet.

Career

Scott was launched on 18 October 1917; on 15 August 1918, however, she was sunk off the Dutch coast — less than a year after entering service - in the same accident with the R-class destroyer HMS Ulleswater. The cause of her sinking is unclear. It is assumed that a German U-boat torpedoed and sunk her, but it is also possible that she hit a mine. Nevertheless, the German submarine UC-17 — which had been patrolling and mining the area — is usually credited with her sinking.

Legacy

Although Scott herself did not have an extensive career, the class as a whole served for many years. Five of the class survived the First World War, and two more were subsequently completed. Six saw action throughout the Second World War (Stuart with the Royal Australian Navy) and none were lost in that conflict.

HMS Scott (H131)

HMS Scott is an ocean survey vessel of the Royal Navy, and the only vessel of her class. She is the third Royal Navy ship to carry the name, and the second to be named after the Antarctic explorer, Robert Falcon Scott. She was ordered to replace the survey ship HMS Hecla.

Construction

The ship was ordered from BAeSEMA in 1995 to replace the ageing HMS Hecla. She was built at the Appledore Shipbuilders in North Devon and launched on 13 October 1996 by Mrs Carolyn Portillo, wife of Michael Portillo, the then-Secretary of State for Defence. She was commissioned on 20 June 1997. Not only is she the largest vessel in the Royal Navy's Hydrographic Squadron, and the fourth largest in the entire fleet, but she is also the largest survey vessel in Western Europe.

Role

Scott is the Royal Navy's only ocean survey vessel. She can remain at sea for up to 300 days a year, thanks to her novel crew rotation system. Her complement of 78 is divided into three sections: two sections are required to keep the ship operational, with the third on shore on leave or in training. When the ship returns to port, one crew section on board is replaced by the section on shore. The ship can then deploy again almost immediately. As with all of the Royal Navy's large survey vessels, Scott has an auxiliary role in support of mine countermeasure vessels.