HMS Valerian

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}} {{Use British English|date=December 2021}} {{Infobox ship |infobox_caption=nodab |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=The Loss of the Valerian.JPG |image_caption=Artist's impression of the loss of HMS ''Valerian'' }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=United Kingdom |flag= {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |name=HMS ''Valerian'' |namesake=[[Valerian (herb)|Valeriana officinalis]] |ordered= |builder=[[Charles Rennoldson and Company]], [[South Shields]] |laid_down=1915 |launched=21 February 1916 |acquired= |commissioned= |decommissioned= |in_service= |out_of_service= |struck= |reinstated= |homeport=[[Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda]] |motto= |nickname= |honours= |fate=Foundered off [[Bermuda]] in the [[1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane]], on 22 October 1926 |notes= }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |class={{sclass|Arabis|sloop|0}} [[Sloop-of-war|sloop]] |displacement= 1,200 tons |length=*{{Convert|255|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}} [[p/p]] *{{Convert|267|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}} [[o/a]] |beam= {{Convert|33|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |height= |draught= {{Convert|11|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}} |propulsion=*1 × 4-cylinder triple expansion engine *2 × cylindrical boilers *1 screw |speed= {{Convert|17|kn}} |range= {{Convert|2000|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{Convert|15|kn|abbr=on}} with max. 260 tons of coal |endurance= |boats= |complement=104 |armament=*2 x [[QF 4.7-inch Gun Mk I–IV|QF 4.7-inch Mk IV guns]] *2 x [[3-pounder gun|3-pounder (47 mm)]] AA *2 x [[depth charge]] launchers |armour= |notes= }} }}

'''HMS ''Valerian''''' was an {{sclass|Arabis|sloop|0}} [[Sloop-of-war|sloop]] of the [[Royal Navy]], built by Charles Rennoldson and Company, South Shields, and launched 21 February 1916. After service in the [[First World War]], she foundered off Bermuda in the [[1926 Havana–Bermuda hurricane]], on 22 October 1926.

== History == After the commissioning, the ''Valerian'' completed security tasks off the British east coast, being used in 1917 and 1918 mainly to monitor coastal [[convoy]] routes and the [[Naval mine|mine]] barriers of the North Sea Mine Barrage. The sloop was not involved in combat operations, although it was briefly suspected that she had sunk the German submarine {{SMU|U-99}} in the northern North Sea in July 1917. However, this submarine was sunk by the British submarine {{HMS|J2}}.

''Valerian'' recommissioned at Devonport on 29 December 1920 and was assigned with [[sister ship]] [[HMS Wistaria (1915)|HMS ''Wistaria'']] to the [[North America and West Indies Station|America and West Indies Station]], based at the [[Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda|Royal Naval Dockyard]] (HMD Bermuda) where she arrived on 2 April 1921,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.naval-history.net/OWShips-WW1-18-HMS_Valerian.htm |title=Royal Navy Log Books of the World War 1 Era: HMS VALERIAN – December 1920 to February 1924, North America & West Indies Station |editor-last=Aschenbrenner |editor-first=Dean M.|date=2020-02-12 |website=www.naval-history.net |access-date=2022-08-27}}</ref>

On 21 October 1922, ''Valerian'' was damaged in a hurricane at Bermuda.<ref>{{cite news |author= |date=1922-09-23 |title=HURRICANE STRIKES BERMUDA WITH FULL FORCE |page=1 |work=The Royal Gazette |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda}}</ref>

On [[Dominion Day]], 1 July, 1924, ''Valerian'' crew members paraded at the [[Plains of Abraham]], [[Quebec City|Quebec]] for the inauguration of the [[Cross of Sacrifice#Elsewhere|Cross of Sacrifice]] erected in remembrance of the Canadians lost in the First World War.<ref>{{cite web |author= |date=2025 |title=Cross of Sacrifice |url=https://www.plainsofabraham.ca/locations-historical-monuments/cross-of-sacrifice |website=Plains of Abraham |location=Quebec |publisher=Plains of Abraham |access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref>

On 20 October 1925 she arrived at [[Baltimore]] to support Britain's [[Schneider Trophy]] team.<ref>{{cite news |author= |date=1925-10-23 |title=Movements of H.M. Ships |page=4 |work=The Scotsman |location=Scotland |quote=BALTIMORE, Oct. 20. - Valerian arrived.}}</ref> The fastest British entry, the [[Supermarine S.4]], crashed into the water on 23 October and ''Valerian'' assisted in the salvage.<ref>{{cite news |author= |date=1925-10-27 |title=U.S. SEAPLANE TRIUMPH: Bluejacket Guard |page=7 |work=Belfast News-Letter |location=Belfast, Ireland }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author= |date=1925-10-27 |title=U.S. SEAPLANE TRIUMPH: Supermarine's Engine Dragged Ashore |page=7 |work=Belfast News-Letter |location=Belfast, Ireland}}</ref> ''Valerian'' returned to Bermuda at the conclusion of racing.<ref>{{cite news |author= |date=1925-10-28 |title=NAVAL NOTES |page=1 |work=the Royal Gazette |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda |quote=}}</ref>

== Loss ==

In 1926 HMS ''Valerian'' was returning to HM Dockyard Bermuda from providing hurricane relief in the Bahamas trailed by another hurricane. A shortage of coal in the Bahamas had forced her to put to sea with only enough to complete her journey, which meant that her mass, and hence her displacement, was a great deal less than would normally be the case, reducing her stability in rough seas. She last radioed after sighting [[Gibbs Hill Lighthouse|Gibb's Hill Lighthouse]] early in the morning of 22 October 1926, at which time the crew saw no sign of an approaching storm. By the time she reached the Five Fathom Hole, she was being overtaken by the storm and conditions were too rough to risk the channel through the reefs. The crew were forced to turn southward to obtain sea room from the reefline lest they be driven on the rocks, and headed directly into the storm. She fought the storm for more than five hours, but after the [[Eye (cyclone)|eye]] passed overhead conditions became more dangerous with the wind more powerful and no longer coming from the same direction as the sea. As the ship's Captain, Commander William Arthur Usher, described at the Court Martial:

{{blockquote|Just before 1300, a series of squalls struck the ship on the port side with a fury that beggars all description. The ship was thrown on her beam ends, heeling 70 degrees over to starboard. The helm was hard-a-port, to keep her head to sea, but this was evidently holding her over and on letting go the helm and putting it hard-a-starboard, the ship righted and came slowly up to the wind, wallowing heavily in the trough of the sea as she came round. It was at this moment the mainmast and wireless were carried away. The ship was brought within about 6 points of the wind, but these tremendous squalls kept forcing her over to leeward and it seemed only a matter of moments before the ship must go. Soon after the engines stopped and the report came up that the ship was ashore but this seems more than doubtful as nothing was felt on the bridge, and although the ship was in a mass of blinding spray, nothing in the nature of breakers was seen. At the time the engines stopped the ship was heeled over to about 60 and then went slowly over.}} The ship sank with most of her crew going overboard without lifeboats or rafts. Men clung to floating wreckage. The Captain was one of 28 on or clinging to the same raft.

{{blockquote|The N.W. wind felt bitterly cold to those parts which were exposed, Sunset came and as it grew dark we looked for Gibbs Hill Light or some other Light, as we had no idea of our position, but nothing was seen, not even the glare. The twelve hours of night, with waves breaking over us, were an experience never to be forgotten and many gave up during that time. They got slowly exhausted and filled up with water and then slipped away. The raft was slowly losing its buoyancy and as everyone wanted, as far as possible, to sit on the edge, it capsized about every 20 minutes, which was exhausting; we all swallowed water in the process and the effort of climbing back again began to tell. Twelve held out until the end, when H.M.S. "Capetown" was most thankfully sighted at about 1000 the following day.}}

In all, 85 of her crew were lost with the Valerian. When the centre of the storm passed over Bermuda the anemometer at the Royal Naval Dockyard measured {{convert|138|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} at 13:00 UTC, before the wind destroyed it.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stranack, Royal Navy |first=Lieutenant-Commander B. Ian D |author-link= |date=1977 |title=The Andrew and The Onions: The Story of The Royal Navy in Bermuda, 1795–1975 |url= |location=Bermuda |publisher=Island Press Ltd., Bermuda, 1977 (1st Edition); Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, Royal Naval Dockyard Bermuda, Ireland Island, Sandys, Bermuda, 1990 (2nd Edition) |page= |isbn=9780921560036}}</ref> This roughly coincided with the moment ''Valerian'' was overwhelmed.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Royal Gazette |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke Parish, Bermuda |date=1926-11-03 |title=Wind and Weather Swept Valerian to Doom |pages=1–2}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valerian}} [[Category:World War I sloops of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Arabis-class sloops]] [[Category:1916 ships]] [[Category:Shipwrecks of Bermuda]] [[Category:Maritime incidents in 1926]] [[Category:Bermuda]]