The ''Dryad''-class torpedo gunboat was the last class of

torpedo gunboat In late 19th-century naval terminology, torpedo gunboats were a form of gunboat armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. By the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were superseded by their more successful c ...

built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

. This type of vessel was rapidly replaced by the faster

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 ...

, and all of the class were converted to minesweepers during World War I, with the exception of ''Hazard'', which became a submarine depot ship.

Design

Ordered under the Naval Defence Act of 1889, which established the "Two-Power Standard", the ships were contemporary with the first torpedo boat destroyers, a type which subsequently superseded the torpedo gunboats. With a length overall of , a beam of and a displacement of 1,070 tons, these torpedo gunboats were not small ships by the standard of the time; they were larger than the majority of World War I destroyers.

Machinery

They were equipped with two sets of vertical triple-expansion steam engines, with two locomotive-type boilers, driving through twin screws. This layout produced giving them a speed of ; ''Halcyon'' was uprated to produce 6000 ihp, giving her a speed of approximately . They carried between 100 and 160 tons of coal and were manned by 120 sailors and officers.

Armament

The armament when built comprised two QF guns, four 6-pounder guns and a single 5-barrelled Nordenfelt machine gun. ''Hussar'' as built mounted only one QF 4.7-inch gun, two 12-pounders and one 6-pounder. The primary weapon was five 18-inch (450-mm) torpedo tubes,British "18 inch" torpedoes were 17.72 inches (45.0 cm) in diameter with two reloads. On conversion to minesweepers in 1914 two of the five torpedoes were removed.

Ships

Notes

References