HMS Orpheus (1916)

Laid down at their shipyard in Sunderland, Orpheus was launched by William Doxford & Sons on 17 June 1916 and completed during September.^[3] The destroyer was the sixth Royal Navy ship to be named after Orpheus, the poet in Greek mythology that travelled to the world of Hades in search of Eurydice.^[6][7] The vessel was deployed as part of the Grand Fleet, joining the Thirteenth Destroyer Flotilla at Scapa Flow.^[8]

The destroyer was active in anti-submarine warfare but with variable results. On 18 January 1917, Orpheus was one of six destroyers that undertook patrols termed "high speed sweeps" in the North Sea using paravanes. No submarines were sighted.^[9] The destroyer did spot a submarine on 19 March while on patrol and attacked with gunfire, the shells narrowly missing the conning tower. However, the victim was the British boat J1 and the friendly fire incident led to a reassessment of the advice given to submarines.^[10] The Admiralty identified that the patrols were not as successful as they needed and so withdrew destroyers like Orpheus to focus on the more effective convoy model.^[11] The destroyer was escorting a convoy of five empty oilers returning to Texas when one, SS Oakleaf, was torpedoed by the submarine UC-41 on 25 July.^[12]

After the armistice, the Grand Fleet was disbanded and Orpheus temporarily joined the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet.^[13] However, the harsh conditions of wartime service, exacerbated by the fact that the hull was not galvanised and operations often required high speed in high seas, meant that the destroyer was worn out.^[14] When the Royal Navy returned to a peacetime level of mobilisation, Orpheus was declared superfluous to operational requirements. The destroyer was initially transferred to Chatham on 15 October 1919 and placed in reserve.^[15] However, this position did not last long. Orpheus was decommissioned, sold to Fryer on 1 November 1921 and returned to Sunderland to be broken up.^[7]