THE TIMES 

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 25 1937 
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The Services

 ROYAL NAVY
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LAUNCH OF THE HAZARD 

H.M.S. Hazard, another of the new minesweepers of the HALCYON class, will be launched to-morrow by William Gray and Co. Limited, West Hartlepool. The HAZARD is the tenth ship of her class, the later vessels of which are of about 875 tons, with machinery of 2,000 horse-power giving them a speed of 17 knots. The armament includes two 4in and nine smaller guns. 

Including hired merchant vessels, 13 earlier ships of the navy have been called HAZARD. The first was a 38 ton hired merchant ship from Faversham which served with the Fleet in the operations against the Spanish Armada. An 18 gun sloop of the same name which served from 1795 to 1817 has a particularly good record, capturing the French ships MUSETTE, HARIN and NEPTUNE in 1796 – 98, and taking part in 1809 in the capture of Martinique and the blockade of Guadeloupe. A later 18 gun sloop, launched at Portsmouth in 1837 served during the Syrian War of 1840 and was present at the bombardment of St Jean d’Arc, and in 1842 and 1845 took part in the first China War and the first New Zealand War. The last HAZARD was built in 1894 as a torpedo gun boat, but from 1901 became the first seagoing parent ships for submarines, commanded by Captain (non Admiral Sir) Reginald Bacon. She served as such in the Dover Patrol during the War, commanded by Lieutenant Commander (now Captain Sir) Lionel Sturdee up to 1917. In January 1918 she was sunk in collision in the English Channel.