The ''Cricket'' class and following classes of coastal destroyers were a series of small

torpedo boat destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived in ...

s (TBDs) intended to complement the Royal Navy's s. The thirty-six vessels which broadly comprised this group actually consisted of several distinct classes, as each contractor built to their own designs, and even single contractor's designs evolved from year to year. The first twelve vessels (comprising White's ''Cricket'' class, Thornycroft's ''Gadfly'' class and Yarrow's ''Mayfly'' class) were ordered in 1905 and launched in early 1906. In practice they were not strong enough for open ocean operations and were reclassified as 1st class torpedo boats. These first twelve had been given names but in October 1906 - after the first two vessels ran trials but before any had been delivered - all were then given the numbers ''TB 1'' to ''TB 12'' and their names were withdrawn. The following two batches—each of twelve more boats, comprising ''TB 13'' to ''TB 24'' ordered under the 1906–07 Programme, and ''TB 25'' to ''TB 36'' under the 1907–08 Programme—were only ever given numbers and were on average longer. These were only ever classified as 1st class torpedo boats. The last boat was launched in 1909. Those that survived the war (six were wartime losses - four from the 1905-06 batch and two from the 1906-07 batch) were sold off from 1919 to 1921. They were built by six different yards (thirteen by

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

Cowes Cowes () is an England, English port, seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked b ...

, nine by

Thornycroft Thornycroft was an English vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977. History In 1896, naval engineer John Isaac Thornycroft formed the Thornycroft Steam Carriage and Van Company which built its f ...

(five at

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...

and four at

Woolston, Hampshire Woolston is a suburb of Southampton, located on the eastern bank of the River Itchen, Hampshire, River Itchen. It is bounded by the River Itchen, Hampshire, River Itchen, Sholing, Peartree Green, Itchen and Weston, Southampton, Weston. The ar ...

), four each by Denny at

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

and by

Hawthorn Leslie R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilding, shipbuilder and locomotive manufacturer. The company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982. History The comp ...

Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the South Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It was formerly in County Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the south bank of the River Tyne between Gateshead and Jarrow and ...

, and three each by

Yarrow ''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Growing to tall, it is characterized by small whitish flowers, a tall stem of fernlike leaves, and a pungent odor. The plan ...

Cubitt Town Cubitt Town is a district on the eastern side of the Isle of Dogs in London, England. This part of the former Metropolitan Borough of Poplar was redeveloped as part of the Port of London in the 1840s and 1850s by William Cubitt, Lord Mayor of L ...

and by Palmers at

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. Historically in County Durham, it is on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. The 2011 census area classed Hebburn and the Boldons as ...

). The boats differed in detail as each shipbuilder was allowed to construct to their own design, and the designs were modified and enlarged for the later batches, but all had two funnels with one of the torpedo tubes on the stern. These vessels closely resembled the earliest 26-knotter TBDs of 1892–93, having 'turtle-back'

forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck (ship), deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is t ...

s and carried a similar armament. By 1914 all boats were serving in North Sea Patrol Flotillas or the Nore Local Defence Flotilla. ''TB 4'' and ''TB 24'' won the Battle Honour ''Belgian Coast 1915''. In 1918 the four Denny-built boats were sent to the Mediterranean: ''TB 17'' and ''TB 18'' served at

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

, ''TB 29'' and ''TB 30'' at

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, where these went to the breakers in 1919.

''Cricket''-class (''TB.1'' to ''TB.5'' - J. S. White 1905–1906 programme)

J Samuel White's torpedo boats of the 1905–1906 shipbuilding programme were

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was normal and deep load. The ships had turtleback

s and two funnels. Two oil-fuelled Yarrow

water-tube boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-generat ...

s fed steam to three-stage Parsons

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

s, driving three propeller shafts. The machinery was designed to give , with a speed of specified. Armament consisted of two 12-pounder (76-mm) 12 cwt guns, and three 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (in three single mounts). The ships had a crew of 39.

''Gadfly''-class (''TB.6'' to ''TB.10'' - Thornycroft boats - 1905–1906 programme)

Thornycroft's torpedo boats under the 1905–1906 programme were

and

, with a

of and a draught of .

was normal and deep load. As for the White-built boats, they had turtleback forecastles and two funnels. The machinery was similar, but was rated at , with a speed of specified. The ship's armament and crew was as the White-designed ships.

''Mayfly'' Class (''TB.11'' to ''TB.12'')

''TB.13'' Class (''TB.13'' to ''TB.16'')

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * * * {{WWI British ships Destroyer classes Ship classes of the Royal Navy