HMS Staunch was one of 20 (later H-class) destroyers built for the Royal Navy. The destroyer served in the First World War. The Acorn class were smaller than the preceding but oil-fired and better armed. Launched in 1910, Staunch acted as escort for the royal yacht at the Cowes Regatta the following year. At the start of the First World War, the vessel served with the Second Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet as an escort, transferring to the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla as part of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1915. As the year closed, Staunch assisted in the evacuation of troops at the end of the Gallipoli campaign. Despite the conditions, the destroyer managed to transport almost an entire battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment to safety. In 1917, while moored off the coast of Deir al-Balah supporting the monitors , and , Staunch was torpedoed by the German submarine . The destroyer sank, with eight sailors killed. Design and description After the preceding coal-burning , the s saw a return to oil-firing. Pioneered by the of 1905 and of 1907, using oil enabled a more efficient design, leading to a smaller vessel which also had increased deck space available for weaponry. Unlike previous destroyer designs, where the individual yards had been given discretion within the parameters set by the Admiralty, the Acorn class were a set, with the machinery the only major variation between the different ships. This enabled costs to be reduced. The class was later renamed the H class. Staunch was long between perpendiculars and overall, with a beam of and a deep draught of . Displacement was normal and full load. Power was provided by Parsons steam turbines, fed by four Yarrow boilers. Parsons supplied a complex of seven turbines, a high-pressure and two low pressure for high speed, two turbines for cruising and two for running astern, driving three shafts. The high-pressure turbine drove the centre shaft, the remainder being distributed amongst two wing-shafts. Three funnels were fitted, the foremost tall and thin, the central short and thick and the aft narrow. The engines were rated at and design speed was . The vessel carried of fuel oil which gave a range of at a cruising speed of . Armament consisted of two single BL Mk VIII guns, one carried on the forecastle and another aft. Two single QF 12-pounder guns were mounted between the first