Spiteful-class destroyer

Class overview
Name	Spiteful class
Builders	Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, Jarrow
Operators	Royal Navy
Built	1898–1899
In commission	1899–1920
Completed	2
Scrapped	2
General characteristics
Type	Torpedo boat destroyer
Displacement	350 long tons (356 t)
Length	210 ft (64 m)
Propulsion	2 × Triple expansion steam engines 4 × Coal-fired Reed boilers 6,300 hp (4,698 kW)
Speed	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement	63
Armament	1 × QF 12-pounder gun 2 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes

Two Spiteful-class destroyers served with the Royal Navy. These ships were both built by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited at Jarrow, and were part of the group of boats known as the 'thirty knotters'.

Concern about the higher speeds of foreign boats had prompted the Admiralty to order new destroyers capable of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), rather than the 27-knot (50 km/h; 31 mph) requirement which had been standard. The boats were not able to make this speed in bad weather, where they were usually wet and uncomfortable with cramped crew quarters. However, they proved their toughness while serving through the Great War, despite being twenty years old. Thanks to their watertight bulkheads, their thin plating and light structure was able to take a great deal of damage and remain afloat; although their plates were easily damaged by rough handling or heavy weather.

The ships were fitted with Reed water tube boilers that generated around 6,300 horsepower (4,700 kW). Both were originally fired using coal, but in 1904 Spiteful was converted to burn fuel oil. They were armed with the standard 12-pounder gun and two torpedo tubes and carried a complement of 63 officers and men. The two ships of this type bore four funnels and were designated B-classdestroyers in 1913. They were sold off after the end of hostilities.

Ships

• Spiteful, launched 11 January 1899, sold for breaking up 14 September 1920.
• Peterel, launched 30 March 1899, sold for breaking up 30 August 1919.

Bibliography

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• Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN   0-7110-0380-7.
• Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN   978-1-84832-049-9.
• Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN   0-85177-245-5.
• Lyon, David (2001) [1996]. The First Destroyers. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN   1-84067-3648.
• Manning, T. D. (1961). The British Destroyer. London: Putnam & Co. OCLC   6470051.
• March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC   164893555.