Four ''Quail''-class destroyers 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 ...
. These ships were all built by
Laird, Son & Co. and were the first of the 'thirty knotters'.
Concern about the higher speeds of foreign boats had prompted to
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 ...
to order new destroyers capable of 30 knots, rather than the 27 knot requirement which had been standard. The boats were not able to make this speed in bad weather, where they were usually wet and uncomfortable with cramped crew quarters, but they proved their toughness in serving through 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 ...
, despite being twenty years old. Thanks to their watertight bulkheads, their thin plating and light structure they were able to take a great deal of damage and remain afloat, although their plates buckled easily, affecting their handling.
The ships were fitted with
Normand boiler
Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, an ...
s which generated around 6,300 HP. They were armed with the standard twelve pounder and two torpedo tubes and carried a complement of 63 officers and men.
In 1913 the ''Quail'' class (with the exception of ''Sparrowhawk'' lost in 1904), along with all other surviving "30 knotter" vessels with 4 funnels, were classified by the Admiralty as the
B-class to provide some system to the
naming of HM destroyers (at the same time, the 3-funnelled, "30 knotters" became the
C-class and the 2-funnelled ships the
D-class).
Ships
* , launched 24 September 1895, sold for disposal 23 July 1919.
* , launched 8 October 1895, wrecked 17 June 1904.
* , launched 5 November 1895, sold for disposal 1919.
* , launched 19 November 1895, sold for disposal 10 October 1919.
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Destroyer classes
Ship classes of the Royal Navy
{{UK-destroyer-stub