1. Rudyard Kipling’s poem,
The Destroyers, was published in 1898, and it can be found at
http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/destroyers.html
2. Capt Wayne P. Hughes, USN Ret.,
Fleet Tactics: Theory and Practice, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1986, p 89.
3. Weapon that waits is taken from the title
Weapons That Wait: Mine Warfare in the U.S Navy
United States Naval Institute Press, updated 1991, by Gregory K.
Hartmann and Scott C. Turver. It is considered a foundational work on
mine warfare at sea and the development of US Navy mine warfare.
4. Officially, a member of the Admiralty Modified W Class, 1st Group HMS
Venomous was a member of the greater V and W Class of British destroyers. This class comprised six similarly designed ships.
Venomous was in the last batch of the V and W Class.
5. “Engage the Enemy More Closely” was Nelson’s more favoured signal when directing the captains of his fleet in action.
6. The torpedo boat would continue to evolve as its own type of naval
craft that would see wartime service in both great wars at sea during
the twentieth century.
7. From an email written by Mr. Peter C. Smith dated 8 February 2009 in which he noted that both
Havock and
Hornet did not perform as advertised and referenced his own work on the subject:
Hard Lying – The Birth of the Destroyer, 1893-1913 (Kimber, 1971). ISBN 7183 01927
8. The Wickes Class consisted of 110 ships, whilst the very near sister
class, the Clemson Class, consisted of nearly 150 ships. This compares
to the 67 ships of the V and W Class.
9. Germany occupied France’s industrial heartlands and supplies of steel, etc. were hard to come by.
10.
Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1906-1921 (Conway Maritime Press, 1985). Reprinted by the United States Naval Institute Press, 2006, pp. 268 – 270.
11. Gardiner, Robert and Gray, Randal
Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships: 1906-1921 (Washington: USNI Press, 1984).
12. However, the Palestro Class was based on the earlier Japanese Kaba
Class which, compared to the new Minekaze Class, was a second-rate
destroyer.
13. Hughes,
Fleet Tactics, p. 87.
14. According to
Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1906-1921, the slowest battleship class that fought for the Royal Navy at Jutland was the
Bellerephon Class, which had a top speed of 20.75 knots.
15. However, Japanese torpedoes were superior to all other torpedoes of
the world’s navies. This proved tragically so for the US Navy during
the early days of the Second World War in the Pacific.
16. According to
Conway’s Warships
only a few of the German destroyers carried this size gun. However,
this gun would be standard for follow-on classes of German destroyers
that would see action during the Second World War.
17. The 4.7-inch gun was the naval version of the British Army’s 4.7-inch field gun.
18. The Royal Navy and the Commonwealth Navies adopted the lettering
designator to indicate the position of each major gun on board, whilst
the US Navy used a numerical designator that corresponded with the
calibre of the gun. For example, the forward 5-inch gun on a destroyer
was designated as Mount 51. For the Royal Navy it would be designated
“A” gun.
19.
Venomous reached 34 knots
during her builder’s trials and her sisters reached comparable speeds.
In CPO Collister’s account of his service on board
Venomous
during the Second World War he said the ship hit 34 knots, up until she
was placed into reserve status and sent to the breakers.
20. Anthony Preston,
V and W Class Destroyers 1917-1945, MacDonald & Co. Ltd., London, 1971, p. 19.
