HMS Valorous (L00)

The fifth HMS Valorous, ex-HMS Montrose, was a V-class flotilla leader of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War I, the Russian Civil War, and World War II.

Construction and commissioning

The ship was ordered in April 1916 for delivery in April 1917 as the first HMS Montrose, and was laid down on 25 May 1916 by William Denny and Brothers of Dumbarton, Scotland. Sometime prior to launching, she was renamed HMS Valorous, and she was launched under that name on 8 May 1917. She was completed on 21 August 1917 and commissioned the same day.

Service history

World War I

Upon completion, Valorous entered service with the fleet during World War I. Before the Armistice with Germany ended the war on 11 November 1918, she had been converted for use as minelayer.

Interwar

After the conclusion of World War I, Valorous deployed to the Baltic Sea to participate in the British campaign there against Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War, seeing action against Russian warships. In 1919, she and the destroyer HMS Vancouver severely damaged the Bolshevik submarine Ersh, which barely made it back to base at Kronstadt. In 1921 she began service in the Atlantic Fleet and later was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet until relieved there in 1931, when the flotilla leader was decommissioned and placed in reserve.

HMS Valorous

HMS Valorous has been the name of four ships of the Royal Navy:

Footnotes

References

HMS Valorous (1804)

The first HMS Valorous was a sixth-rate Combatant-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She was rated as "18 guns" but carried twenty (or twenty-two) 24-pounder carronades.

She was built in Hull as one of a class of three (the others being Dauntless and Combatant) and launched in 1804. Designed by John Stainforth MP, they were flush-decked, shallow draught and (for their dimensions) heavily armed. Rated as a sloop, she had a design based on the Danish Praam (English 'Pram'), allowing the combination of heavy armament with a draught of only 11 feet. Her design may well have been influenced by the flush-decked, shallow draught vessels of Napoleon's invasion fleet, although Valorous and her sisters were significantly larger.

Valorous entered service in 1805, with the anti-invasion flotillas stationed in The Downs. In the spring of 1807 she and her sisters were ordered to the Baltic where their characteristics would be of value as convoy escorts and particularly in support of operations ashore. She became an Army depot ship in 1810 (possibly 1816?) and was sold on 7 May 1817.

HMS Valorous (1851)

HMS Valorous was a 16 gun steam powered paddle frigate of the Royal Navy built at Pembroke Dockyard and launched on 30 April 1851.

Design and construction

She was part of the two-ship class of Magicienne-class second class paddle frigates. She was built at a cost of £69,064, of which her machinery cost £24,329. She was originally ordered on 25 April 1847 as a First Class sloop to John Edye's design, approved on 12 August 1847. On 5 August 1847 they were re-ordered as 210 ft (64 m) vessels. When finished, they constituted the last group of paddle warships built for the Royal Navy.

Career

In 1852 she was in the Mediterranean, then in 1854 she was assigned to the Baltic Sea and in 1855 she operated in the Black Sea during the Crimean War. In 1857 she was on the North America and West Indies Station, and from 1863 until she was paid off in September 1867 she operated off the Cape of Good Hope. Carrying extra stores, she accompanied the British Arctic Expedition ships Alert and Discovery as far as Godhavn in 1875. In 1878 she was commanded by Captain John A Fisher (later Admiral of the Fleet).