HMS Sirdar (1918)

Laid down in August 1917 during the First World War by Palmers at their dockyard in Jarrow, Sirdar was launched on 6 July 1918 and completed on 6 September shortly before the Armistice that ended the war.^[10][11] The vessel was the first to be named Sirdar in the Royal Navy, recalling the noble title of the Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Army under British rule.^[12][13] The ship joined the Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet.^[14] However, the war had put a huge financial burden on the Royal Navy and it need to return to a peacetime level of strength. Both the number of ships and personnel needed to be reduced to save money.^[15] Sirdar was placed in reserve at Rosyth, remaining there into the following year.^[16]

Despite the fighting ending of the Western Front, there was still conflict in the Aegean Sea as the Ottoman Empire split up. The Royal Navy deployed an increasing number of destroyers to the Mediterranean and, in November 1919, Sirdar was ordered to be commissioned into the reserve of the Sixth Destroyer Flotilla as part of the Mediterranean Fleet based at Malta.^[17][18] When the city of Izmit was being attacked by the Kuva-yi Milliye on 14 June 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence, the destroyer was deployed to support the British and Ottoman troops defending the town.^[19] The vessel then escorted the Turkish battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim to Tuzla.^[20] The destroyer returned to Malta. Resuming deployment on 9 February the following year, the vessel arrived at Smyrna as part of an escort flotilla to the dreadnought Ajax three days later.^[21] The fleet undertook exercises in the Sea of Marmara on 17 February.^[22] On 14 November 1922, the destroyer sailed for Moudros.^[23]

Sirdar was subsequently transferred to the China Station, being deployed to Zhenjiang on 27 April 1927 following the Nanking incident.^[24] On 21 August, the destroyer was attacked off Zhenjiang by militants. The ship returned fire, killing six without loss of life amongst the crew.^[25] On 1 September, Sirdar was deployed on one of many anti-piracy patrols off Daya Bay in the South China Sea.^[26] On 8 December 1929, the destroyer, accompanied by sister ship Sterling, assisted the crew of the passenger ship Hatching, which had been attacked by 25 pirates that had secreted themselves amongst the passengers. The crew regained control of the ship, but one officer, a guard, five passengers and five pirates were injured. The remaining pirates were tried and executed when the ships returned to port.^[27] On 6 September 1930, the destroyer was fired on by soldiers of the Chinese Red Army while cruising along the Yangtze to Jingzhou.^[28] After the recapture of the merchant ship Hangtang from pirates, on 3 December 1931, Sirdar was sent to Nan'ao to retrieve some of the cargo retrieved.^[29] The crew also succeeded in capturing some of the pirates.^[30] However, the vessel's service days were numbered. On 22 April 1930, the London Naval Treaty had been signed, which limited total destroyer tonnage in the Royal Navy. The force was looking to introduce more modern destroyers and so needed to retire some of the older vessels.^[31] Sirdar was decommissioned and, on 4 May 1934, sold to be broken up by Cashmore in Newport, Wales.^[12]