Merry Christmas! I hope you are all having a relaxing and festive day with your loved ones today.

HMS Vendetta was a V class destroyer ordered in 1916 and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1917. As a modern destroyer, she was retained into the inter-war period and served in the Baltic and Mediterranean until 1933. Today we have a photograph of the ship in home waters tied up alongside another warship: 

The ship was initially armed with 4 quick fire 4-inch Mk V guns, one of which can be seen here with some members of the ship’s company leaning against: 

One of the ship’s searchlights can be seen to the left, the other can be seen here on the opposite bridge wing: 

The large blast mattresses suggest that this photo was taken whilst the ship was on active service as these padded fabric bolsters were used to absorb small pieces of shrapnel and offered the crew some protection in action. They were usually only seen when the ship might be in contact with the enemy as they were untidy and would have been stowed away in peacetime. 

Vendetta was transferred to the Australian Navy in 1933, as this photograph is title ‘HMD Vendetta’ (HM Destroyer), rather than HMAS (HM Australian Ship) this would suggest that it was taken before 1933 and the handover. Vendetta would be part of the famous ‘scrap iron’ flotilla of Australian ships and she was to see much active service throughout World War II before finally being scrapped in 1945.