HMS Sesame (1918)

Laid down on 2 February 1918 by William Denny and Brothers in Dumbarton with the yard number 1103, Sesame was launched on 30 December, soon after the Armistice which ended the First World War.^[8] The vessel was the first one that served in the Royal Navy to be named Sesame.^[9] Sesame was completed on 28 March the following year and commissioned into the Reserve Fleet at Devonport.^[10]

Sesame remained in reserve until the following year. Although the war on the western front had finished, the escalating civil war in Russia continued. The United Kingdom decided to send units of the Royal Navy into the Baltic Sea to monitor the situation. Soon into the campaign, it became clear that the Russians were planning to liberate the Baltic State of Latvia by integrating it into the new Soviet Union.^[11] The fleet was therefore tasked with not simply helping to help organise the evacuation of German forces from the country but also support their war of independence. This was achieved on 14 November 1919.^[12] Five days later, the destroyer arrived in Liepāja along with sister ships Serene, Shamrock, Strenuous and Torbay in time to see peace restored.^[13] The destroyer returned to the United Kingdom and was once again reduced to reserve at Devonport on 18 September 1920.^[14]

In February 1929, Sesame left the Irish destroyer Flotilla, reducing the flotilla's strength from three to two ships, and went into reserve at Devonport.^[15] In March that year, the destroyer was ordered to recommission for attachment to the Fleet Target Service and to the aircraft carrier Argus.^[16] The ship was equipped with a davit and acted as a plane guard for the aircraft carriers of the Home Fleet. All other armament was removed.^[17] However, the end was in sight for the warship. On 22 April 1930, the United Kingdom signed the London Naval Treaty, which limited the total destroyer tonnage that the navy could operate.^[18] As newer, larger and more powerful vessels were introduced, older destroyers like the S class were gradually retired.

On 1 November 1930, during a demonstration by the Atlantic Fleet to delegates to the 1930 Imperial Conference, Sesame rescued the three-man crew of a Fairey IIIF aircraft that had crashed while taking off from the carrier Courageous.^[19] Sesame remained in service until 4 May 1934 when the vessel was sold to Cashmore of Newport, Wales, and subsequently broken up.^[9]

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• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: a complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th century to the present. London: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-85367-566-9.
• Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-71100-380-4.
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• Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the First World War. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.
• Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-245-5.
• Head, Michael (2009). "The Baltic Campaign, 1918-1920: Part I". Warship International. 46 (2): 134–150.
• Johnston, Ian (2009). "A Shipyard at War: John Brown & Co Ltd Clydebank, 1914—1918". Warship: 96–116.
• Lyon, David John (1975). The Denny List: Ship numbers 769-1273. London: National Maritime Museum. OCLC 256517657.
• March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953. London: Seeley Service. OCLC 164893555.
• Parkes, Oscar; Prendergast, Maurice (1969). Jane's Fighting Ships 1919. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. OCLC 907574860.
• Snook, David (1989). "British Naval Operations in the Black Sea 1918-1920: Part II". Warship International. 26 (4): 331–356.