HMS ''Contest'' was one of three s to serve with the Royal Navy. She was launched on 1 December 1894 at the Laird, Son and Co shipyard, Birkenhead, and served most of her career in home waters.

Service history

''Contest'' served as part of the

Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...

Instructional Flotilla in 1901. In July 1902 she was part of the escort meeting , which brought back to England the remains of

Lord Pauncefote Julian Pauncefote, 1st Baron Pauncefote (13 September 1828 – 24 May 1902), known as Sir Julian Pauncefote between 1874 and 1899, was a British barrister, judge and diplomat. He was Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between ...

, British ambassador to the US who died while in office. Lieutenant Henry Ralph Heathcote was appointed in command on 1 August 1902 (a temporary appointment of Lieutenant L. J. I. Hammond in command appears to have been cancelled), when she was tender to HMS ''Cambridge'', gunnery school ship off

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

. Later the same month she took part in the Coronation Review for King Edward VII on 16 August 1902. Following the review, she was paid off into the Fleet Reserve to have new boiler feedwater pumps fitted. She was sold for scrap on 11 July 1911 for £1760.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Contest Banshee-class destroyers Ships built on the River Mersey 1894 ships