HMS Lightning (1895)

HMS ''Lightning'' was a of the British Royal Navy, later designated an destroyer, built by Palmers and launched in 1895.

Design and construction

Three torpedo-boat destroyers were ordered on 7 November 1893 from the Jarrow shipbuilders, Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company for the Royal Navy as part of the 1893–1894 Naval Estimates. These three ships, , ''Lightning'' and were part of a larger group of 36 destroyers ordered as part of this shipbuilding programme, as a follow-on to the six prototype "26-knotters" ordered in the previous 1892–1893 Estimates.Lyon 2001, p. 77.Lyon 2001, pp. 19–20. The Admiralty laid down broad requirements for the destroyers, including a speed of on sea trials, with the detailed design left to the builders, resulting in each of the builders producing different designs.Chesneau and Kolesnik 1979, p. 87.Manning 1961, p. 39.

Palmers' design was long overall and between perpendiculars, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was light and full load. Four Reed water tube boilers fed steam at to two triple expansion steam engines rated at and driving two propeller shafts. Three funnels were fitted.Friedman 2009, p. 54. Armament consisted of a single QF 12 pounder 12 cwt gun and three 6-pounder guns, with two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.Friedman 2009, p. 291. One of the torpedo tubes could be removed to accommodate a further two six-pounders,Lyon 2001, pp. 98–99. although the Palmer 27-knotters later carried both the two torpedo tubes and all 5 six-pounder guns.Lyon 2003, p. 100.

''Lightning'', together with the other two Palmer-built destroyers, was laid down on 28 March 1894, and was launched on 10 April 1895.Friedman 2009, p. 302. ''Lightning'' exceeded the required 27 knots, reaching an average of during sea trials on 5 November 1895.Brassey 1897, p. 321. She collided with the collier ''Belvedere'' on 8 November when returning to port from these trials, damaging her bows, and then ran aground on the Maplin Sands. Staff Commander Bullmore, in command of the ship during the trials, was found guilty of hazarding the ship by negligence and being drunk when on board ''Lightning'' in the resultant court martial. He was severely reprimanded and lost five years seniority. Despite these mishaps ''Lightning'' completed in January 1896.

Service

The Palmer-built ships were considered the best of the 27-knotters, and at one stage, both ''Lightning'' and ''Janus'' were selected for service in distant overseas stations,Lyon 2001, p. 116. although in the end, only ''Janus'' was sent to the China station, with ''Lightning'' serving her whole career in home waters.

''Lightning'' took part in the 1896 British Naval Manoeuvres, attached to the Channel Fleet operation from Berehaven in southern Ireland.Brassey 1897, pp. 141–143, 149. She was based at HMNB Portsmouth as a tender to ''Excellent'' in 1900. She underwent repairs to re-tube her boilers in 1902, and was commissioned by Lieutenant Rowland Henry Bather on 1 August 1902. She again had her boilers retubed at Sheerness in 1907, after which she returned to Portsmouth. On 17 February 1908 ''Lightning'' rammed a mooring buoy in Portsmouth harbour, holing her bow.

In 1910, ''Lightning'' was part of the Sixth Destroyer Flotilla, based at The Nore, still being based at the Nore in 1912. On 25 April 1912 ''Lightning'' collided with the torpedo boat in Stangate Creek. Both ships were damaged, and required docking for repair, with ''Lightning''s bow damaged and ''TB 17'' holed below the waterline.

On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyers were to be grouped into classes designated by letters based on contract speed and appearance. After 30 September 1913, as a 27-knotter, ''Lightning'' was assigned to the A class.Gardiner and Gray 1985, p. 18.Manning 1961, pp. 17–18.Dittmar and Colledge 1972, p. 56.

''Lightning'', assigned the pennant number N.23, was allocated to the Nore Local Defence Flotilla by January 1915. On 30 June 1915, following the sighting of floating mines near the Kentish Knock Lightvessel, ''Lightning'' and the destroyer were sent out to deal with the mines. The two ships had destroyed three mines before ''Lightning'' struck another mine, lain by the German submarine , killing 15 of her crew. ''Lightning'' broke in half, the bow section sinking, while the stern was towed back to Sheerness and later scrapped. The ship's captain was absolved of any blame but was advised that he "might have considered he was in a mine field having already sighted three mines".

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lightning (1895)
Janus-class destroyers
1895 ships
Maritime incidents in 1915
Ships sunk by mines
World War I shipwrecks in the North Sea