HMS ''Hornet'' was a

torpedo boat destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in 1 ...

of the British

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 launched in 1893 and sold in 1909 for scrapping. Although the torpedo boat destroyers were ordered first, ''Havock'' and ''Hornet'' were completed faster, making them the first destroyers ever built.

Design and construction

In April 1892, the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

sent out a request to several shipbuilders for designs and tenders for "large sea going torpedo boats", or what later became known as "torpedo boat destroyers". In July 1892, it was decided to place an order with the two specialised torpedo-boat builders, Yarrows and

Thornycroft Thornycroft was an English vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977. History In 1896, naval engineer John Isaac Thornycroft formed the Thornycroft Steam Carriage and Van Company which built its firs ...

for two ships each, with Yarrows' two ships named and ''Hornet''. While both Yarrow ships were powered by

triple-expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up he ...

s driving two shafts, they differed in the boilers used, with ''Havock'' using 2 conventional locomotive-type

fire-tube boiler A fire-tube boiler is a type of boiler in which hot gases pass from a fire through one or more tubes running through a sealed container of water. The heat of the gases is transferred through the walls of the tubes by thermal conduction, heating t ...

s while ''Hornet'' used 8 Yarrow water tube boilers. (This resulted in ''Havock'' having 2 funnels while ''Hornet'' was fitted with 4 funnels). Gun armament consisted of a single 12 pounder () gun, three

6 pounder 6-pounder gun or 6-pdr, usually denotes a gun firing a projectile weighing approximately . Guns of this type include: *QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss, a 57 mm naval gun of the 1880s; a similar weapon was designed by Driggs-Schroeder for the US Navy ...

(57 mm) guns, while torpedo armament consisted of three 18 in (450 mm)

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s, with one fixed bow tube and two deck mounted tubes, with the two deck-mounted tubes in a single rotating mounting, pointing in opposite directions, so that enemies on either beam could be attacked at the same time.

History

''Hornet'' was laid down at Yarrow's

Poplar, London Poplar is a district in East London, England, the administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, borough of Tower Hamlets. Five miles (8 km) east of Charing Cross, it is part of the East End of London, East End. It is identi ...

yard on 1 July 1892. ''Hornet''s water tube boilers meant that it took longer to build than ''Havock'', launching on 23 December 1893 and completed in July 1894. The ship's performance during trials was generally successful, with only slight vibration noted and the ship steering well, and an average speed of being made over a three-hour trial. ''Hornet'' served almost all her service life in Home waters, although she did serve briefly in the Mediterranean in 1900. ''Hornet''s bow structure was strengthened in 1901. While the bow torpedo tube was found to be of little use, as it adversely affected seakeeping and restricted space forward, with fears that the ship could over-run a torpedo fired from the bow tube, ''Hornet'' retained the bow tube, while the two deck mounted tubes were removed by 1902. In February 1902 she was ordered to replace as tender to , special service vessel, for duties in connection with the

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby town ...

School of Gunnery. She took part in the

Coronation Review A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...

for King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

on 16 August 1902, with Lieutenant W. B. W. Grubb temporarily in command from 8 August. In late October 1902 she was at Sheerness dockyard for a refit.

Fate

A survey in February 1909 found that ''Hornet''s hull was in poor condition, with buckling of the hull plating and estimated repair costs of £4,050. She was sold on 12 October 1909 for scrapping.

Notes

Citations

References

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External links

A history of her class
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornet Havock-class destroyers Ships built in Cubitt Town 1893 ships