![]() | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(June 2013) |
![]() HMS Fame | |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Builders | John I. Thornycroft & Company |
Preceded by | A class "27-knotters" |
Succeeded by | River class (E class) |
Built | 1895–1899 |
In commission | 1896–1921 |
Completed | 10 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Torpedo boat destroyer |
Displacement | 355 to 370 tons at full load |
Length | 210 ft (64 m) |
Beam | 19 ft 9 in (6.02 m) |
Draught | 7 ft 8 in (2.34 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
Armament |
The D class as they were known from 1913 was a fairly homogeneous group of torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1890s. They were all constructed to the individual designs of their builder, John I. Thornycroft & Company of Chiswick, to meet Admiralty specifications. The uniting feature of the class was a top speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) and they all had two funnels.
In 1913 the nine surviving "30 knotter" vessels with two funnels (all ten had been built by Thornycroft, but Ariel was lost before their renaming as D class) were retrospectively classified by the Admiralty as the D class to provide some system to the naming of HM destroyers. In the same way those with three funnels were classified as the C-class and those with four funnels as the B-class. All these vessels had a distinctive "turtleback" forecastle that was intended to clear water from the bow, but actually tended to dig the bow in to anything of a sea, resulting in a very wet conning position. They were better constructed than their A-class forebears (the "26 knotter" and "27 knotter" groups), but still were poor seaboats unable to reach top speed in anything but perfect conditions.
They generally displaced 355 to 370 tons and had a length of 210 ft (64 m). All were powered by triple expansion steam engines for 5,700 indicated horsepower (4,300 kW ) and had coal-fired water-tube boilers, except for the final vessel (Stag) in which the engine power was slightly raised to 5,800 ihp (4,300 kW). Armament was one QF 12-pounder gun on a bandstand on the forecastle, five QF 6-pounder guns (two sided abreast the conning tower, two sided between the funnels and one on the quarterdeck) and two single tubes for 18-inch (450 mm) torpedoes.
Due to the successful development of their previous 26 and 27-knot torpedo boat destroyers, John I Thornycroft & Company developed their two funnel design for the 1894/1895 – 1897/1898 building programs. The ships were considered an incremental improvement to the previous 27-knot design of the 1893/94 program. This design would be used for all follow-on turtleback ships under the 30-knot specification. The 30-knot torpedo boat destroyers built by Thornycroft were referred to as two funnel – 30-knot ships and were not assigned a class name at the time. [1]
They featured a large fore-bridge, mast halfway between bridge and fore funnel, turtleback cut-away bow, large round stern, both torpedo tubes on centerline aft of second funnel and two funnels. They had a Thornycroft stern with the rudder not visible. They had dual rudders which made them very responsive to the helm. [2] [3]
All ten of the D class were built by Thornycroft at Chiswick, in four batches.
Name | Yard number | Laid down | Launched | Trials [5] | Completed | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Desperate | 305 | 1 Jul 1895 | 15 Feb 1896 | 26 Jun 1896 (a) | Feb 1897 | Sold for scrap 20 May 1920, to Thos. W. Ward, Milford Haven |
Fame | 306 | 4 Jul 1895 | 15 Apr 1896 | 15 Apr 1897 | Jun 1897 | Sold for scrap 31 August 1921, at Hong Kong. |
Foam | 307 | 16 Jul 1895 | 8 Oct 1896 | 7 May 1897 | Jul 1897 | Sold for scrap 26 May 1914, at Chatham |
Mallard | 308 | 13 Sep 1895 | 19 Nov 1896 | 17 Sep 1897 | Oct 1897 | Sold for scrap 10 February 1920, to South Alloa Shipbreaking Co. |
Angler | 313 | 21 Dec 1896 | 2 Feb 1897 | 27 May 1898 3 Jun 1898 | Jul 1898 | Sold for scrap 20 May 1920, to Thos. W. Ward, Milford Haven |
Ariel | 314 | 23 Apr 1896 | 5 Mar 1897 | 7 Aug 1898 17 Aug 1898 | Oct 1898 | Wrecked at Malta 19 April 1907 |
Coquette | 319 | 8 Jun 1896 | 25 Nov 1897 | 27 Jul 1899 20 Dec 1898 | Jan 1899 | Mined and sunk in the North Sea, 7 March 1916 |
Cygnet | 320 | 25 Sep 1896 | 3 Sep 1898 | 5 May 1899 | Feb 1900 | Sold for scrap 29 April 1920, to Thos. W. Ward, Rainham |
Cynthia | 321 | 16 Jul 1896 | 8 Jan 1898 | 26 Oct 1899 | Jun 1899 | Sold for scrap 29 April 1920, to Thos. W. Ward, Rainham |
Stag | 334 | 16 Apr 1898 | 18 Nov 1899 | 19 Jun 1900 | Sep 1900 | Sold for scrap 17 March 1921, to Thos. W. Ward, Grays |
Notes: (a) Desperate had a final run over the measured mile on 4 September 1896. Altogether, this vessel completed nine successive preliminary trials.
Name | Yard number | Laid down | Launched | Completed | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SMS D 10 | 322 | 1896 | 24 Mar 1898 | 13 Oct 1898 | Sold for scrap 28 July 1922, broken in Wilhelmshaven |
The Havock class was a class of torpedo boat destroyer (TBD) of the British Royal Navy. The two ships, Havock and Hornet, built in London in 1893 by Yarrow & Company, were the first TBDs to be completed for the Royal Navy, although the equivalent pair from J.I. Thornycroft, Daring and Decoy, were ordered five days earlier.
The Ikazuchi-class destroyers was a class of six torpedo boat destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which were built in Britain in 1897-99. All were named after celestial phenomena.
The C class as designated in 1913 was a heterogeneous group of torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) built for the Royal Navy in the late-1890s. They were constructed to the individual designs of their builders to meet Admiralty specifications. The uniting feature of the class was a top speed of 30 knots, a "turtleback" forecastle and that they all had three funnels. The funnels were spaced equidistantly and were of equal height, but the central one was thicker.
The A class as designated in 1913 was a heterogeneous group of torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1890s. Some 42 vessels were constructed to the individual designs of their builders to meet Admiralty specifications, the only uniting feature being a specified top speed of 27 knots (50 km/h). In fact the initial six vessels were generally differentiated by a slightly lower speed and were often referred to as "26-knotters" to distinguish them from the following batch of thirty-six vessels; all fifteen surviving "27-knotter" vessels were classified by the Admiralty as the A class in 1913 to provide some system to the naming of HM destroyers. All of the "26-knotters" and most of the "27-knotters" had been lost or scrapped before the 1913 classification, but for convenience all 42 ships are listed below. The number of funnels varied from one to four. All vessels had a distinctive "turtleback" forecastle that was intended to clear water from the bow, but actually tended to dig the bow in to anything of a sea, resulting in a very wet conning position.
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The Murakumo-class destroyers were a class of six torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) of the Imperial Japanese Navy, built in Britain in 1897–99. The class is also sometimes referred to as the Shinonome-class destroyers("Daybreak"). All were named after celestial phenomena.
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HMS Ardent was a Royal Navy 27 knot torpedo boat destroyer ordered from John I Thornycroft & Company under the 1893 – 1894 Naval Estimates. She was the sixth ship to carry this name.
HMS Boxer was an Ardent-class destroyer which served with the Royal Navy, launched on 28 November 1894. She spent several years operating with the Mediterranean Fleet and remained active during the First World War. She was sunk in a collision on 8 February 1918.
HMS Bruizer was an Ardent-class destroyer which served with the Royal Navy. She was launched on 27 February 1895 by John Thornycroft at Chiswick, and was sold on 26 May 1914.
Two Swordfish-class destroyers served with the Royal Navy. Swordfish and Spitfire were both built by Armstrong Whitworth at Elswick, Tyne and Wear launching in 1895. Fitted with Yarrow boilers, they could make 27 knots and were armed with one twelve pounder and two torpedo tubes.
HMS Cheerful was a 30-knot, three-funnel torpedo boat destroyer built by Hawthorn Leslie. She was ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896–1897 Naval Estimates, launched in 1898 and saw action during World War I. She was mined off the Shetland Islands in 1917 and sank with the loss of 44 officers and men.
HMS Dove was a three funnel, 30 knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896–1897 Naval Estimates. She was the ninth ship to carry the name.
HMS Fame was a two funnel, 30 knot destroyer of the Royal Navy, ordered under the 1894–1895 Naval Estimates. She was launched in 1896, served in Chinese waters for the whole of her life and was sold at Hong Kong in 1921.
HMS Foam was a two funnel, 30 knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1894 – 1895 Naval Estimates. She served in the Mediterranean for most of her short career and was sold in 1914, 4 months before the beginning of World War I.
HMS Ariel was a two funnel, 30 knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895 – 1896 Naval Estimates. Named after Shakespeare's "airy spirit", or the biblical spirit of the same name, she was the ninth ship of the name to serve in the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1897, served at Chatham and Malta, and was wrecked in a storm in 1907.
HMS Recruit was a Clydebank three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895–1896 Naval Estimates. She was the fifth ship to carry this name since it was introduced in 1806 for an 18-gun brig-sloop, sold in 1822.
HMS Kestrel was a Clydebank-built three funnelled 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895 – 1896 Naval Estimates. She was the fourth ship to carry this name since it was first used in 1846 for a brigantine.
HMS Albatross was an experimental torpedo boat destroyer of the Royal Navy authorised under the 1896–97 Naval Estimates and built by John I. Thornycroft & Company of Chiswick on the River Thames. She was contracted to be faster, larger and more powerful than existing designs.