On conversion to a minesweeper in 1914 two torpedo tubes were removed
The sixth HMS Harrier was a Dryad-classtorpedo gunboat. She was launched at Devonport Dockyard on 20 February 1894,[2] and saw service in the Mediterranean and in fishery protection. She served as a minesweeper during World War I and was sold for commercial use in 1920.
Ordered under the Naval Defence Act of 1889, which established the "Two-Power Standard", the class was contemporary with the first torpedo boat destroyers. With a length overall of 262ft 6in (80.01m),[1] a beam of 30ft 6in (9.30m)[1] and a displacement of 1,070 tons,[1] these torpedo gunboats were not small ships by the standard of the time; they were larger than the majority of World War I destroyers. Harrier was engined by Hawthorn Leslie and Company with two sets of vertical triple-expansion steam engines, two locomotive-type boilers, and twin screws. This layout produced 3,500 indicated horsepower (2,600kW),[1] giving her a speed of 18.2 knots (33.7km/h).[1] She carried between 100 and 160 tons of coal and was manned by 120 sailors and officers.[1]
Armament
The armament when built comprised two QF 4.7-inch (12cm) guns, four 6-pdr guns and a single 5-barrelled Nordenfelt machine gun. Her primary weapon was five 18-inch (450-mm) torpedo tubes,[Note 1] with two reloads.[1] On conversion to a minesweeper in 1914 two of the five torpedoes were removed.[1]
Lieutenant Commander Philip Walter was appointed in command in July 1897. She left Port Said for Malta on 8 February 1900,[5] arrived at Plymouth on 1 March,[6] and on 24 March 1900 paid off at Devonport,[7] where she was placed in the B division of the Fleet Reserve. Commander Cyril Everard Tower was appointed in command on 11 March 1901, following which she again returned to the Mediterranean Station,[8] and in late November 1901 replaced the Mariner-class gunvesselMelita as the special service vessel at Constantinople.[9] She visited the Danube in early 1902, and was ordered to the Persian Gulf on special service in June that year.[10] After a brief visit to the Mediterranean in September for combined manoeuvres off Nauplia,[11] she was back in the Gulf visiting Aden and Perim the following month,[12] then Hodeida in December.[13]
Fishery protection and tender to the Navigation School
She spent some time before World War I engaged in fishery protection duties and was for a time a tender to the Navigation School.[7]
Conversion to a minesweeper
At the outbreak of war she was converted at Portsmouth, in common with most of the rest of her class, to the minesweeping role.[7]
Harrier in wartime grey paint scheme
Disposal
She was sold to T R Sales at Haulbowline, Cork on 23 February 1920[1] for commercial use.[14]
Notes
↑ British "18 inch" torpedoes were 17.72 inches (45.0 cm) in diameter
Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC52620555.
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