HMS ''Peterel'' was one of two s to serve 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 Palmers, was 215 feet long and the 6,200 H.P. produced by her Reed boilers gave her a top speed of 30 knots. She was armed, as was standard, with a twelve pounder and two torpedo tubes. She served in home waters throughout the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and was sold off in 1919.

Design and construction

''Peterel'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

(as

Yard number __NOTOC__ M ...

745) on 29 July 1898 by the

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Tyne ...

shipbuilder

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, often referred to simply as "Palmers", was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British shipbuilder, shipbuilding company. The Company was based in Jarrow, County Durham, in north-eastern ...

. Construction began 'on spec' (i.e. as a private venture by the builder without a specific order), but the part-built ship was included in a January 1899 tender by Palmers to supply three destroyers to the Royal Navy under a supplement to the 1899–1900 shipbuilding programme. The ship was launched on 30 March 1899 and Palmers' tender accepted in April 1899, the contract price being £47149 per ship. ''Peterel'' closely resembled , built by Palmers under the previous year's shipbuilding programme, and like ''Spiteful'' had four funnels. She was

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

, 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 .

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 full load. Four Reed boilers fed steam at to triple expansion steam engines rated at and driving two propeller shafts, giving a speed of . 91 tons of coal carried. Armament was a single QF 12 pounder 12 cwt () 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), backed up by five 6-pounder guns, and two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.

Service history

''Peterel'' was delivered at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in February 1900 for completion and armament and was completed in July that year. She took part in the 1901 Naval Manoeuvres. In 1910 ''Peterel'' was a member of the

4th Destroyer Flotilla The British 4th Destroyer Flotilla , or Fourth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from August 1909 to July 1951. History In 1907 the Home Fleet had a large formation of destroyers called the Home Fleet Flotilla of destr ...

based at

, remaining part of the flotilla in 1912. On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyers were to be grouped into classes designated by letters based on contract speed and appearance. As a four-funneled 30-knotter destroyer, ''Peterel'' was assigned to the B Class. In 1912, older destroyers were organised into Patrol Flotillas, with ''Peterel'' being part of the 6th Flotilla, based at Portsmouth, in March 1913.

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peterel (1899) B-class destroyers (1913) Ships built on the River Tyne 1899 ships World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom Spiteful-class destroyers