HMS Contest (1894)

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History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Contest
Builder Laird, Son and Co., Birkenhead
Launched1 December 1894
FateSold for scrap, 1911
General characteristics
Class and type Banshee-class destroyer
Displacement290 long tons (295 t)
Length210 ft (64 m)
Beam19 ft (5.8 m)
Draught7 ft (2.1 m)
Speed27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Complement53
Armament

HMS Contest was one of three Banshee-class destroyers to serve with the Royal Navy.

Contents

She was launched on 1 December 1894 at the Laird, Son and Co shipyard, Birkenhead, [1] and served most of her career in home waters.

Service history

Contest served as part of the Medway Instructional Flotilla in 1901. [2] In July 1902 she was part of the escort meeting USS Brooklyn, which brought back to England the remains of Lord Pauncefote, British ambassador to the US who died while in office. [3] Lieutenant Henry Ralph Heathcote was appointed in command on 1 August 1902 (a temporary appointment of Lieutenant L. J. I. Hammond in command appears to have been cancelled), [4] when she was tender to HMS Cambridge, gunnery school ship off Plymouth. Later the same month she took part in the Coronation Review for King Edward VII on 16 August 1902. [5] Following the review, she was paid off into the Fleet Reserve to have new boiler feedwater pumps fitted. [6]

She was sold for scrap on 11 July 1911 for £1760. [7]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Times (London), Monday, 17 December 1894, p.10
  2. ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36345). London. 7 January 1901. p. 8.
  3. ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36818). London. 12 July 1902. p. 9.
  4. ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36839). London. 6 August 1902. p. 8.
  5. ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36831). London. 28 July 1902. p. 7.
  6. ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36845). London. 13 August 1902. p. 8.
  7. ↑ "Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Devonport Dockyard". The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect. Vol. 34. August 1911. p. 14.

Bibliography

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