Three ''Rocket''-class destroyers served with the Royal Navy. Under the 1893–1894 Naval Estimates, the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

placed orders for 36

torpedo-boat destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in 1 ...

s, all to be capable of , the "27-knotters", as a follow-on to the six prototype "26-knotters" ordered in the previous 1892–1893 Estimates. As was typical for torpedo craft at the time, the Admiralty left detailed design to the builders, laying down only broad requirements.Chesneau and Kolesnik 1979, p. 87.Manning 1961, p. 39. , and were built by

J & G Thomson John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish Naval architecture, marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and the ''Queen Elizabeth 2 (ship), Queen Elizabeth 2''. At its ...

and launched at

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

in 1894. The ships displaced 280 tons, were long and their

Normand boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, an ...

s produced . to give a top speed of . They were armed with one 12-pounder and two torpedo tubes. They carried a complement of 53 officers and men. In September 1913 the Admiralty re-classed all the surviving 27-knotter destroyers as A Class although this only applied to ''Surly'' as the other two ships had been sold for scrap in 1912.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * Destroyer classes Ship classes of the Royal Navy {{UK-mil-ship-stub

See also

Notes

Bibliography