HMS Tourmaline (H00): Patrolling the Black Sea During the Russian Civil War

Laid Down at Woolston

HMS Tourmaline was built by Thornycroft at Woolston in Southampton, laid down in January 1918, launched on 19 April 1919 and completed that December, a Modified Rosalind-class S-class destroyer with enhanced seakeeping features and Brown-Curtis geared turbines capable of 36 knots at light load.

Guarding Constantinople

After joining the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla with the Atlantic Fleet, Tourmaline deployed to Constantinople in 1920 as part of a fleet led by HMS Iron Duke, supporting British interests during the turbulent aftermath of the Russian Civil War, a period of genuine uncertainty and shifting alliances across the collapsing Ottoman and Russian empires.

Patrolling a Dangerous Coastline

That November, Tourmaline patrolled the Black Sea coast between Novorossiysk and Tuapse, a hazardous assignment given the chaos of the ongoing civil war ashore. Her sister ship HMS Tobago struck a mine during the same patrol, a sharp reminder of just how dangerous these waters remained even after the wider conflict had officially ended.

A Collision, and a Rescue

Tourmaline collided with HMS Turquoise while departing Portland in January 1921, requiring repairs at Portsmouth, before transferring to the Mediterranean Fleet and patrolling the Sea of Marmara during the Greco-Turkish War. On 24 September 1922, she rescued survivors from her sister ship HMS Speedy, a notably valuable act of seamanship amid the ongoing tensions of the period.

Broken Up Under the London Naval Treaty

After recommissioning at Gibraltar in 1926 to lead the Local Defence Flotilla, Tourmaline was sold to Thos. W. Ward on 28 November 1931 and broken up at Grays, one of many older destroyers scrapped as Britain reduced its fleet under the tonnage restrictions of the London Naval Treaty.