HMS Sharpshooter (1917)

Sharpshooter was laid down at the William Beardmore and Company shipyard in Dalmuir during May 1916 with the yard number 550 at a contract price of £170,722.^[5] The vessel was launched in December 1916 and completed in February 1917.^[1]

On commissioning, Sharpshooter joined the 10th Destroyer Flotilla of the Harwich Force.^[6] The destroyer was engaged in escort duties and, on 9 April, was accompanying a convoy travelling east from the Netherlands when it was attacked by the German submarine UB-31. The submarine successfully sank one of the merchant ships, but before it could unleash another torpedo, Sharpshooter saw the track made by the wake and, following it, rushed upon the submarine, dropping three depth charges and scaring it away.^[7]

On 4 June 1917, Sharpshooter was deployed as part of a large group of seven cruisers and twenty-five destroyers to protect the monitors Erebus and Terror in their bombardment of the German held Belgian port of Ostend.^[8] At 2:30 in the morning of 5 June, the destroyer was part of a flotilla of four cruisers and nine destroyers that were patrolling off Thornton Bank when they spotted the German destroyers S15 and S20.^[9] A vigorous battle ensued, during which a torpedo narrowly missed Sharpshooter, passing astern.^[10] Along with Satyr, Taurus and Torrent, Sharpshooter damaged S15 and sank S20.^[11] The flotilla subsequently undertook anti-submarine patrols, but the destroyer did not sight an enemy boat.^[12] The rest of the war was uneventful apart from 1 June 1918 when the destroyer rescued one of the first pilots of the Royal Australian Navy, Captain A. C. Sharwood, who ditched his Sopwith 2F.1 Camel, operated from Sydney, nearby.^[13]

Sharpshooter remained part of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla at the end of the war.^[14] After the conflict, the ship was transferred to the Gunnery School at Portsmouth^[15] and, on 5 March 1919, was reduced to Reduced Complement.^[16] In 1923, the Navy decided to scrap many of the older destroyers in preparation for the introduction of newer and larger vessels.^[17] Sharpshooter was sold for scrap to Thos. W. Ward at Briton Ferry on 29 April 1927.^[18]

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2010). 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 978-1-93514-907-1.
• Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
• 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 0-85177-245-5.
• Johnston, Ian (1993). Beardmore Built: the rise and fall of a Clydeside shipyard. Clydebank: Clydebank District Libraries & Museums Department. ISBN 978-0-90693-805-8.
• Karau, Mark D. (2014). The Naval Flank of the Western Front: The German MarineKorps Flandern 1914–1918. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-231-8.
• March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development 1892–1953. London: Seeley Service & Co. ISBN 1-84832-049-3.
• Monograph No. 34: Home Waters Part VIII: December 1916 to April 1917. Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. XVIII. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1933.
• Monograph No. 35: Home Waters Part IX: 1st May 1917 to 31st July 1917. Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. XIX. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1939.
• Newbolt, Henry (1931). "History of the Great War: Naval Operations Vol. V, April 1917 to November 1918 (Part 1 of 4)". London: Longmans, Green and Co. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
• Parkes, Oscar; Prendegast, Maurice (1919). Jane's Fighting Ships. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd.
• Warner, Guy (2011). World War One Aircraft Carrier Pioneer : the Story and Diaries of Captain J M McCleery RNAS RAF. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 978-1-84884-255-7.