HMS Brisk (1910)

HMS Brisk was one of 20 Acorn-class (later H-class) destroyers built for the Royal Navy that served in the First World War. The Acorn class were smaller than the preceding Beagle class but oil-fired and better armed. Launched in 1910, Brisk was the first destroyer equipped with two Brown-Curtis steam turbines and two shafts. At the start of the war, the ship served with the Second Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet. The destroyer spent most of the war in anti-submarine warfare and was upgraded for this purpose with increasing capacity for attack with depth charges. Despite being involved in many actions, the ship did not sink any enemy boats, although the ship did rescue many survivors of ships sunk, including the troop ship SS Mendi, as well as surviving a torpedo attack from the German submarine U-84 and hitting a mine, all in 1917. Having spent most of the war in the seas around the British Isles, Brisk ended the war as part of the Aegean Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet. After the Armistice, Brisk was placed in reserve before being sold to be broken up in 1921.