HMS ''Havock'' was a torpedo boat destroyer of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

built by the Yarrow shipyard. She was one of the first destroyers ordered by the Royal Navy, and the first to be delivered.

Design and construction

''Havock'' had a full load

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 ...

of 275 tons and a speed of . She differed from her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

in having 2 locomotive boilers placed end-to-end, while ''Hornet'' had 8 water tube boilers. This resulted in an obvious external difference, since ''Hornet'' had 4 funnels (with the centre pair close together) while ''Havock'' had 2 closely spaced funnels. She was launched on 12 August 1893.

Armament

''Havock'' was armed with a single 12-pounder gun mounted on a pedestal at the conning position, an exposed location that was extremely wet in even moderately rough weather. Three 6 pounder QF guns were mounted, with two either side of, and slightly abaft of, the conning position, and the third placed near the stern just aft of the torpedo tubes. Three 18-inch (450mm) torpedo tubes were fitted, with two in a turntable towards the stern, and able to fire on either side. The third torpedo tube was fitted at the bow, with the torpedo ejected from the tube by a gunpowder charge.Lyon (1996), p.54. This fitting was later removed, as it was found that the fitting was extremely exposed, and the boat had a tendency to outpace its own torpedo when running at high speed.Lyon (1996), p.98.

Career

''Havock'' "behaved well" on trials in late 1893, with her top speed indicating that she was capable of keeping up with

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 ...

s. It was noted that her trial demonstrated better fuel efficiency than her sister, ''Hornet''.Lyon (1996), p.55. In 1896 ''Havock'' was in reserve at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. In 1899–1900 she was re-boilered with conventional ship water tube boilers, changing her silhouette to have three funnels, with the centre one somewhat thicker than the others. By this period such a layout was considered standard for torpedo boat destroyers. ''Havock''s career was spent entirely around the British Isles. Lieutenant H. C. J. R. West was appointed in command on 1 March 1902, and shortly thereafter commissioned her for service with the

Medway Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

Instructional Flotilla. Her officers and crew were transferred to the destroyer in early May 1902, and she was commissioned on 8 May as tender to , the shore establishment at

Sheerness Sheerness () is a port town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 13,249, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby ...

. She took part in the Coronation Review for King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

on 16 August 1902, with Lieutenant L. T. Jones temporarily in command from 8 August.

Fate

''Havock'' was sold on 14 May 1912Lyon (1996), p.56. and was broken up.

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Havock (1893) Havock-class destroyers Ships built in Cubitt Town 1893 ships