The ''Sturgeon''-class destroyers served with the

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 ...

from 1894; three were built by the

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

yard and differed from other similar ships in having their mast stepped before the first funnel. They had

Blechynden boiler There have been a vast number of designs of steam boiler, particularly towards the end of the 19th century when the technology was evolving rapidly. A great many of these took the names of their originators or primary manufacturers, rather than a m ...

s which gave them and . They were armed with one twelve pounder and two torpedo tubes. They carried a complement of 53 officers and men.

Construction and design

On 8 November 1893, the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral of the ...

placed an order with the Naval Construction and Armament Company of

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

(later to become part of

) for three "Twenty-Seven Knotter" destroyers as part of the 1893–1894 construction programme for the

,Lyon 2001, p. 69. with in total, 36 destroyers being ordered from various shipbuilders for this programme.Lyon 2001, p. 19. The Admiralty only laid down a series of broad requirements for the destroyers, leaving detailed design to the ships' builders. The requirements included a trial speed of , a "turtleback"

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 ...

and a standard armament of a QF 12 pounder 12 cwt ( calibre) gun on a platform on the ship's

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...

(in practice the platform was also used as the ship's bridge), with a secondary armament of five 6-pounder guns, and two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.Lyon 2001, p. 20.Lyon 2001, pp. 98–99.Friedman 2009, p. 40. The Naval Construction and Armament Company produced a design with a length of

overall Overalls or bib-and-brace overalls, also called dungarees in British English, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers ...

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 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 light and deep load. Three funnels were fitted, with the foremast between the ship's bridge and the first funnel.Friedman 2009, p. 50.Manning 1961, p. 38. Four Blechyndnen

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 at to two three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines rated at .''The Engineer'' 11 October 1895, p. 365. 60 tons of coal were carried,Brassey 1902, p. 274. giving a range of at a speed of .Friedman 2009, p. 291. The ship's crew was 53 officers and men. All three ships had been sold for scrapping before 1913 when the Admiralty re-classed the surviving 27-knotter destroyers as A Class destroyers.

Ships

* * *

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{A class destroyer (1913) Destroyer classes Ship classes of the Royal Navy

Construction and design

See also

Ships

References

Notes

Bibliography