HMS Comet was an Acorn class destroyer of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 that saw active service in the First World War. She was built under the 1909–1910 programme by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in Govan

Govan

Govan is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick....

. She was launched on 23 June 1910 and she was torpedoed and sunk by Austrian U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 in the Mediterranean on 6 August 1918.

The Acorn class marked a return to oil-firing as pioneered in the Tribal or F class

Tribal class destroyer (1905)

The Tribal or F class was a class of destroyer built for the Royal Navy. Twelve ships were built between 1905 and 1908 and all saw service during World War I, where they saw action in the North Sea and English Channel as part of the 6th Flotilla and Dover Patrols.-Design:The preceding River or E...

 of 1905 and of 1907. This change allowed a generally smaller vessel than the Beagles even with an increase in armament. The Comet was built to an individual design by Fairfield Shipbuilding although the Acorns had a more-or-less uniform appearance, with three funnels, a tall, thin fore funnel, a short, thick central and a short narrow after stack. Comet had two 4-inch guns on the fo'c'sle and on the quarterdeck

Quarterdeck

The quarterdeck is that part of a warship designated by the commanding officer for official and ceremonial functions. In port, the quarterdeck is the most important place on the ship, and is the central control point for all its major activities. Underway, its importance diminishes as control of...

. The 12-pounder guns were amidships, on sided between the first pair of funnels, and the torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

tubes were aft of the funnels, mounted singly with a searchlight position between them.