HMS Opossum (1895)

HMS Opossum was a "twenty-seven knotter" torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. Built by the Tyneside shipbuilder Hawthorn Leslie, Opossum was one of three destroyers built by Hawthorns that were ordered in 1894. She was launched in 1895 and completed in 1896. She remained in service during the First World War, where she was used for local patrol duties based at Plymouth and sank the German submarine GS UC-49 on 8 August 1918. She was sold for scrap in 1920.

Design and construction
HMS Opossum, along with sister ships HMS Sunfish (1895) and HMS Ranger (1895), was one of three destroyers ordered for the Royal Navy from Hawthorn Leslie on 7 February 1894 as part of the 1893–1894 Naval Estimates. A total of 36 destroyers were ordered from 14 shipbuilders as part of the 1893–1894 Naval Estimates, all of which were required to reach a contract speed of 27 kn. The Admiralty laid down broad requirements for the destroyers, including speed, the use of an arched turtleback forecastle and armament, with the detailed design left to the builders, resulting in each of the builders producing different designs.

Opossum was 204 ft long overall and 200 ft between perpendiculars, with a beam of 19 ft and a draught of 8 ft. Displacement was 310 LT light and 340 LT full load. Eight Yarrow boilers, with their uptakes trunked together to three funnels, fed steam at 185 psi to two triple-expansion steam engines, rated at 4000 ihp. Armament consisted of a single QF 12-pounder 12 cwt gun and three 6-pounder guns, with two 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. One of the torpedo tubes could be removed to accommodate a further two six-pounders. The ship's crew was 53 officers and men.

On 17 September 1895 Opossum was laid down as Yard Number 326 at Hawthorn Leslie's Hebburn, Tyneside shipyard, and was launched on 9 August 1895. The ship reached a speed of 28.24 kn during sea trials, and was completed in February 1896.

Service
On 26 June 1897, Opossum took part in the naval review at Spithead to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Opossum, based at Devonport, took part in the 1901 Royal Navy Naval Manoeuvres in July–August that year. In 1905, Opossum was one of a number of old destroyers which the Rear Admiral (Destroyers) condemned as being "..all worn out", with "every shilling spent on these old 27-knotters is a waste of money". In November 1907, Opossum was paid off for refitting at Chatham Dockyard, where her boilers were retubed, this refit continuing until June 1908.

On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyers were to be grouped into classes designated by letters based on contract speed and appearance. After 30 September 1913, as a 27-knotter, Opossum was assigned to the A-class destroyer (1913).

By February 1913, Opossum was not part of an active flotilla, but was attached as a tender to the shore establishment HMS Vivid (shore establishment 1890) at Devonport, with a nucleus crew and was still attached to Vivid in July 1914, on the eve of the outbreak of the First World War.

By January 1915, Opossum was allocated to the Devonport Local Defence Flotilla. On 1 April 1917, Opossum took part in the salvage of the merchant ship SS Valacia, and her crew was later awarded salvage money. On the evening of 20 December 1917, Opossum, together with the destroyers HMS Spitfire (1912) and HMS Roebuck (1901), five Motor Launches, four drifters and two fishing trawlers, was ordered to patrol Lyme Bay to search for a German submarine that had sunk three merchant ships the previous night. The submarine had already left the area, however.

On 8 August 1918, the German submarine GS UC-49 was laying a minefield off Start Point, Devon, when the submarine fouled one of her own mines. The resulting explosion was spotted by Opossum, which was on a routine anti-submarine patrol nearby. Opossum and several Motor Launches started a search for the submarine using Hydrophones and sweeps. UC-49 was assumed to by lying on the sea bed, and when the submarine restarted motors at 15:20 hr, the noise attracted several depth charges, and more depth charges were dropped at 17:57 hr. Opossum then noisily withdrew a distance of 2.5 nmi in order to convince the submarine's commander that the hunt had been abandoned, and after 17 minutes the U-boat surfaced, only 200 yd from one of the Motor Launches and 800 yd from Opossum, and was brought under a heavy fire. After 20 seconds, the submarine descended under the surface again, with her bows at an angle of 50 degrees, and several more depth charges were dropped, bringing up oil and bubbles. The next day, the wreck, which had been located by sweeps, was plastered with depth charges in order to break it up to confirm that the submarine had been sunk. When debris including a light bulb manufactured in Vienna came to the surface, it was confirmed that the submarine had been destroyed.

Opossum remained part of the Devonport Local Defence Flotilla at the end of the war in November 1918. By March 1919, Opossum was laid up in reserve at Devonport, She was sold on 29 July 1920 to Ward for breaking up at their Preston yard.