HMS ''Dryad'' was the name ship of the s. She was launched at

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham, Kent, Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham; at its most extens ...

on 22 November 1893, the first of the class to be completed. She served as a

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

during World War I and was broken up in 1920.

Design

Ordered under the Naval Defence Act of 1889, which established the "Two-Power Standard", the class was contemporary with the first

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. With a length overall of ,Winfield 2004, p. 307 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. ''Dryad'' was engined by Maudslay, Sons & Field with two sets of vertical triple-expansion steam engines, two locomotive-type boilers, and twin screws. This layout produced , giving her a speed of . She carried between 100 and 160 tons of coal and was 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. Her 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 a minesweeper in 1914 two of the five torpedoes were removed.

Service history

Mediterranean service

''Dryad'' deployed to

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

in February 1897 to operate as part of the International Squadron, a multinational force made up of ships of the

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', ) was the navy, naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy were designated ''SMS'', for ''Seiner Majestät Schiff'' (His Majes ...

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy) was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for ...

, Italian Royal Navy (''

Regia Marina The , ) (RM) or Royal Italian Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy () from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the changed its name to '' Marina Militare'' ("Military Navy"). Origin ...

''),

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until being dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution and the declaration of ...

, and Royal Navy that intervened in the 1897–1898 Greek uprising on Crete against rule by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. On 21 February 1897, she joined the British

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

and torpedo gunboat , the Russian battleship '' Imperator Aleksandr II'', the Austro-Hungarian

armored cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a pre-dreadnought battles ...

, and the German

protected cruiser Protected cruisers, a type of cruiser of the late 19th century, took their name from the armored deck, which protected vital machine-spaces from fragments released by explosive shells. Protected cruisers notably lacked a belt of armour alon ...

in the International Squadron's first direct offensive action, a brief bombardment of Cretan insurgent positions on the heights east of Canea (now

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

) after the insurgents refused the squadron's order to take down a

Greek flag The national flag of Greece, popularly referred to as the Blue-and-White (, ) or the Cyan-and-White (, ), is officially recognised by Greece as one of its national symbols and has 5 equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white. There ...

they had raised. In December 1899, ''Dryad'' was commissioned for more service on the

Mediterranean Station The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a military formation, formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vita ...

. On 14 January 1900 ''Dryad'' left Chatham for the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

in order to relieve , which returned to Devonport to pay off. She was stationed at

Souda Bay Souda Bay () is a bay and natural harbour near the town of Souda on the northwest coast of the Greek island of Crete. The bay is about 15 km long and only two to four km wide, and a deep natural harbour. It is formed between the Akroti ...

until March 1900, when she returned to the station garrison 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 ...

. Later the same month she was posted to

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

as a port ship. In June 1902 she was lent to the East Indies Squadron for special service in the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

, returning to Malta in late September.

Tender to the Navigation School

In 1906 she was chosen as the tender to the Navigation School, conducting navigation training of officers at sea. In due course her name came to be used for the Navigation School itself, and then for , the shore establishment at

Southwick House Southwick House is a Grade II listed 19th-century manor house of the Southwick Estate in Hampshire, England, about north of Portsmouth. It is home to the Defence School of Policing and Guarding and related military police capabilities. Histor ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. On 20 June 1907, ''Dryad'' rescued the crew of after the

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

sank without loss of life during afternoon

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

trials In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, wh ...

in the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

off

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, when her

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

broke and punctured her

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

.Anonymous, "Torpedo Boat Sunk," ''Poverty Bay Herald'', Volume XXXIV, Issue 11045, 10 August 1907.
/ref>

Wartime service as a minesweeper

By 1914 ''Dryad'' had been converted to a

and was operating in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

from the port of

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

. Four gunners from ''Dryad'' were assigned to the

Q-ship Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchantman, armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the c ...

''Inverlyon''. which on 15 August 1915 sank the German submarine with gunfire.

Disposal

She was renamed ''Hamadryad'' in 1918 and was sold to H Auten & Co on 24 September 1920 for breaking.

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* *
McTiernan, Mick, ''A Very Bad Place Indeed For a Soldier. The British involvement in the early stages of the European Intervention in Crete. 1897 - 1898,'' King's College, London, September 2014.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dryad (1893) Dryad-class torpedo gunboats Ships built in Chatham 1893 ships Victorian-era gunboats of the United Kingdom World War I minesweepers of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1907