HMS Marne (1915)

Marne was laid down by John Brown & Company of Clydebank on 30 September 1914 alongside sister ship Mons with the yard number 434, launched on 29 May the following year and completed on 27 September.^[3] The destroyer was the first vessel in the navy to be named after the river Marne in France.^[12] The ship was deployed as part of the Grand Fleet, joining the newly formed Eleventh Destroyer Flotilla.^[13]

After the battleship King Edward VII had struck a mine on 10 January 1916 off the northern Scottish coast, Marne was one of twelve destroyers that came to the stricken ship's aid. The destroyer, along with Fortune, Musketeer and Nessus, transferred all but one of the crew and took them back to port.^[14] On 24 April, the destroyer, as part of the Eleventh Destroyer Flotilla, was based at Cromarty.^[15] The flotilla formed part of the support for the Grand Fleet in their response to the German bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft which took place on that day. However, the slower speed of the destroyers in the choppy seas meant that they were left behind and the fleets did not meet.^[16] On 1 May, the destroyer picked up the survivors from the armed merchant ship SS San Urbano, which had been sunk by U-81.^[17]

At the Battle of Jutland later that year, Marne served as one of four members of the Eleventh Destroyer Flotilla attached to the First and Fourth Battle Squadrons.^[18] The flotilla then formed close to the dreadnought battleship King George V when the two fleets converged on 31 May, providing part of the screen for the British battle line.^[19] As the German fleet withdrew during the night, the ships were spotted by the vanguard of the High Seas Fleet.^[20] The destroyers, led by the light cruiser Castor, attacked the German light cruisers of the 4th Scouting Group, Marne launching a torpedo that failed to impact.^[21] The gun flashes from the British cruiser so blinded the crew that they could not fire any more.^[22] In return, the destroyer received a hit from a 4.1-inch (100 mm) shell on the upper deck aft which failed to explode.^[23] After the end of the battle, the vessel returned to Scapa Flow, arriving on 2 June.^[24]

During the following year, Marne was transferred to the Northern Division of the Coast of Ireland Station based at Buncrana.^[25] The destroyer was part of the escort service provided to convoys travelling across the Atlantic. The destroyers at Buncrana assisted convoys arriving across the Atlantic Ocean from the American industrial complex at Hampton Roads and via Sydney, Nova Scotia, or departing ports on the Clyde and Mersey.^[26] The Division also provided three escorts every eight days to protect fast convoys travelling to and from Halifax, Nova Scotia.^[27] On 2 October, the destroyer briefly escorted Drake after the armoured cruiser had been torpedoed by U-79.^[28] The convoy escort role continued into 1918.^[29][30] On 20 July, the destroyer, along with sister ships Milbrook and Pigeon, successfully drove the German submarine UB-124 to the surface with depth charges. The ships then sank the submarine with gunfire.^[31]

After the Armistice of 11 November 1918 that ended the war, the Royal Navy returned to a peacetime level of strength and both the number of ships and personnel needed to be reduced to save money.^[32] Marne was declared superfluous to operational requirements. On 22 October 1919, the destroyer was reduced and placed in reserve at Devonport.^[33] However, this did not last long and, after being decommissioned, on 31 November 1921, Marne was sold to G Cohen to be broken up in Germany.^[34]