HMS ''Hardy'' was a which served with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. She was built by

William Doxford & Sons William Doxford & Sons Ltd, often referred to simply as Doxford, was a British shipbuilding and marine engineering company. History William Doxford founded the company in 1840. From 1870 it was based in Pallion, Sunderland, on the River Wea ...

in 1895, launched on 16 December 1895, and sold off on 11 July 1911.

Construction and design

HMS ''Hardy'' was one of the two destroyers ordered from William Doxford & Sons on 3 November 1893 as part of the Royal Navy's 1893–1894 construction programme. The

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

did not specify a standard design for destroyers, laying down broad requirements, including a trial speed of , a "turtleback"

forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper 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 the phrase " be ...

and armament, which was to vary depending on whether the ship was to be used in the torpedo boat or gunboat role. As a torpedo boat, the planned armament was a single 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 armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...

(in practice the platform was also used as the ship's bridge), together with a secondary gun armament of three 6-pounder guns, and two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. As a gunboat, one of the torpedo tubes could be removed to accommodate a further two six-pounders. Doxford's design had a hull of length overall and between perpendiculars, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of . Eight Yarrow boilers fed steam at to triple expansion steam engines rated at and driving two propeller shafts.

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. Unusually for the destroyers ordered under the 1893–1894 programme, the Admiralty accepted a guaranteed speed of , rather than the more normal 27 knots, possibly owing to Doxford's inexperience in building torpedo-craft. This speed dropped to at deep load. Sufficient coal was carried to give a range of at . Three funnels were fitted. The ship's complement was 50 officers and men. She was laid down as Yard Number 226 at Doxford's

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

shipyard on 4 June 1894, and was launched on 16 December 1895. Sea trials were successful, with the ship reaching an average speed of , and she was completed in August 1896.

Service history

She saw early service in home waters. In 1896 ''Hardy'' was in reserve at

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

. In 1901 she was with the Mediterranean Squadron, but was relieved by the destroyer in late May the following year. She arrived at

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 ...

on 5 July 1902, and paid off at

later the same month. Lieutenant Robert Gordon Douglas Dewar was appointed in command during summer 1902, and was briefly succeeded by Lieutenant George Geoffrey Codrington from late 1902 until January 1903, when she took the place of HMS ''Angler'' in the Medway instructional flotilla. ''Hardy'' was sold for scrap at Devonport for £1400 on 11 July 1911.

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Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy (1895) Hardy-class destroyers Ships built on the River Wear 1895 ships A-class destroyers (1913)