HMS Havock (1893)
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 The HMS Havock in its original form |
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| Overview | |
| Type | destroyer |
| Shipyard |
Yarrow & Co. , Poplar , |
| Keel laying | 1892 |
| Launch | August 12, 1893 |
| Commissioning | January 1894 |
| Whereabouts | Sold for demolition April 10, 1912 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
240t.n. |
| length |
56.4 m (185 ft) |
| width |
5.6 m (18.5 ft) |
| Draft |
2.3 m (7.5 ft) |
| crew |
46 men |
| drive |
2 locomotive boilers, |
| speed |
26.78 kn |
| Armament |
1 × 76 mm / L40-12pdr-12 cwt cannon |
| Sister boat |
Hornet |
| procured at the same time |
Daring / Decoy (Thornycroft), |
The 1894 has come into service HMS Havock was the first destroyers (torpedo boat destroyer) of the British Royal Navy . The boat was built by Yarrow in the London borough of Poplar and was one of the six destroyers ordered for the first time in the 1892/93 budget year and was the first to be delivered. The original two-chimney boat received new water tube boilers and three chimneys in 1899/1900 . In 1912 the boat, which had always been used at home, was sold for demolition.
Development and construction history
The Royal Navy saw the other navies' torpedo boats as a significant threat to their battle fleet. The Chilean Civil War of 1891 made this danger even clearer when the British-built torpedo cannon boat Almirante Lynch succeeded in sinking the rebel flagship , the armored frigate Blanco Encalada (the first sinking of a warship by a self-propelled torpedo). To counter this threat, the Royal Navy has been developing defense ships for years. However, the torpedo cannon boats developed and procured by it had not yet met expectations, as their speed was not sufficient to intercept modern torpedo boats. In 1892, the new Third Sea Lord , Rear Admiral Jackie Fisher, ordered six boats from shipyards that had experience in torpedo boat construction, which should have almost the same speed as possible attackers, were equipped with sufficient rapid-fire cannons to repel torpedo boats and were better seaworthy than those up to then own torpedo boats procured. Three shipyards received the first orders for these boats, first known as "torpedo boat catchers", which were soon called "torpedo boat destroyers".
The Admiralty left the detailed construction of these orders to the shipyards. Yarrow built the Havock and the Hornet , but they received a different boiler system and therefore four chimneys. The also London shipyard John I. Thornycroft & Co. in Chiswick manufactured the Daring and Decoy at the same time, and a little later Laird Brothers in Birkenhead the Ferret and Lynx . The six boats were often grouped together as the "26-knotter" according to their top speed.
The Havock had, like all British destroyers up to the turn of the century, a curved front deck, which was referred to as the "turtleback" (turtle back). With full equipment she displaced 275 tn and reached a top speed of almost 27 knots (kn) . Two locomotive boilers served as the drive, the ends of which were facing each other, which led to two chimneys standing close together. The two triple expansion machines could produce up to 3700 hp.
The Havock was armed with a 12-pounder cannon, which was set up on a platform at the command post. This position was extremely wet even in moderate seas. Two of the 6-pounder rapid-fire cannons were to the side and behind the command post. The third cannon was placed near the stern behind the twin deck torpedo tubes. The rotating twin set could fire its 18-inch (450 mm) torpedoes to either side. The third torpedo tube was in the bow and shot his torpedoes with a powder charge. This installation was later removed because it was very weather dependent and the boat ran the risk of overflowing its own torpedo at higher speeds. The elimination / waiver of bow tubes on all destroyers also led to an improvement in the lounge areas for the crews on the extremely cramped boats.
Mission history
The Havock was the first boat of the new type to be launched on August 12, 1893. Her sea test voyages on October 28, 1893 were successful, the speeds achieved showed that the boat could follow the battleships. It was already evident that the bow torpedo tube would be largely useless at sea. It also contributed to the fact that the bow dug into the sea and the forecastle was extremely wet. But it took a few years until the Navy first dispensed with the bow tubes and then also with the causal foredeck construction with the turtle back. The sea behavior was described as above average and the reaction of the Havock to her rudder as good and consistent. However, their high coal consumption was criticized. During the maneuvers in 1894 she stayed at sea for 24 hours and proved to be far superior to the torpedo cannon boat Speedy in intercepting torpedo boats and in action against each other. After its first commissioning, the boat was usually used in the canal .
In 1899–1900 the Havock was completely modernized , which changed its appearance. The old boilers were replaced by modern water-tube boilers of the Yarrow design and the boat received three chimneys, the middle one of which was slightly thicker. The boat continued to be used in home waters. On August 16, 1902, it took part in the great naval parade on the occasion of Edward VII's coronation at Spithead . In June 1906 the Havock came to the 2nd destroyer flotilla in Chatham and from then on belonged to the fleet reserve. In May 1912 it was sold for demolition.
The sister boat Hornet
The second boat delivered by Yarrow & Co, the HMS Hornet , was largely identical to the Havock , but visually differed greatly from its sister boat . She had eight small water tube boiler of the type Yarrow received four widely spaced chimneys. The company's first boilers, however, used even more coal. It also served almost exclusively in its home waters, but is also said to have been used briefly in the Mediterranean. It was scrapped in 1909.
Further orders
The fact that the HMS Havock immediately exceeded the required speed of 26 knots during its first test runs in the fall of 1893 led to the demand for 27 knots to be reached in the first reorders in the budget year 1893/94. The first orders for three boats each went to Thornycroft ( Ardent class ) and Yarrow & Co ( Charger class). Charger , Dasher and Hasty'o originally had the same boiler arrangement and equipment as the Havock and two chimneys, but later also three chimneys after the new boiler . Orders for 30 more boats to twelve other shipyards followed. These 36 boats then formed the "27-knotter" class.
When in 1913 the Royal Navy sorted all destroyers into classes marked with letters, the remaining fifteen "27-knotters" formed the A-class , of which twelve were still in existence at the beginning of the First World War . The "26-knotter" were all eliminated when the new class system was introduced, but are now often included in this A class in class overviews.
The following 30-knotters from 1895, which were built beyond the turn of the century, were also a further development of the Havock ; When the destroyer classes were reorganized in 1913, they formed classes "B" (4 chimneys, 24 boats), "C" (3 chimneys, 40 boats) and "D" (2 chimneys, 10 boats) according to the number of their chimneys with different designs .
Yarrow was only involved as a supplier in the construction of these boats, as the shipyard mainly produced boats for export during those years.
The 26 knotters
| Surname | shipyard | Keel laying | Launch | finished | fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HMS Havock | Yarrow | 1.07.1892 | 08/12/1893 | 1.1894 | deleted 14.05.1912 |
| HMS Hornet | Yarrow | 1.07.1892 | 12/13/1893 | 7.1894 | deleted October 12, 1909 |
| HMS Daring | Thornycroft | 1.07.1892 | 11/25/1893 | 2.1895 | deleted 04/10/1912 |
| HMS Decoy | Thornycroft | 1.07.1892 | April 7, 1894 | 6.1895 | sunk 13.08.1904 |
| HMS Ferret | Laird Brothers | 1.07.1892 | 12/9/1893 | 3.1895 | canceled in 1910, sunk as a target ship in 1911 |
| HMS Lynx | Laird Brothers | 1.07.1892 | 01/24/1894 | 3.1895 | deleted 04/10/1912 |
literature
- Maurice Cocker: Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981 , Ian Allen 1983, ISBN 0-7110-1075-7
- David Lyon: The First Destroyers , 1996, ISBN 1-84067-364-8
- TD Manning: The British Destroyer , Putnam 1961
- Antony Preston: Destroyers , Hamlyn, ISBN 0-60032955-0
