"D" Class Destroyer (1896)

Ten of the 30 Knotters built for the Royal Navy late in the 1890s had two funnels. All were built by John I. Thornycroft & Company, and were re-designated as "D" class destroyers on 30 August 1912, along with the contemporary, foreign-built Taku, as she also happened to have two funnels.^[1]

Their average cost was £60,000.^[2]

In July, 1918, seven ships were still in service, four serving in the local defence force in Portsmouth, two in the Irish Sea, and one paid off in China.^[3]

By May 1920, seven of the ships were still considered worth documenting as regards their armament,^[4] though the ships were all to be broken up by the end of 1921.

Overview of 11 vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Fate
Desperate	John I. Thornycroft & Company	1 Jul, 1895	15 Feb, 1896	Feb, 1897	Broken up 1920
Fame	John I. Thornycroft & Company	4 Jul, 1895	15 Apr, 1896	Jun, 1897	Broken up 1921
Foam	John I. Thornycroft & Company	16 Jul, 1895	8 Oct, 1896	Jul, 1897	Broken up 1914
Mallard	John I. Thornycroft & Company	13 Sep, 1895	19 Nov, 1896	Oct, 1897	Broken up 1920
Angler	John I. Thornycroft & Company	21 Feb, 1896	2 Feb, 1897	Jul, 1898	Broken up 1920
Ariel	John I. Thornycroft & Company	23 Apr, 1896	5 Mar, 1897	Oct, 1898	Wrecked 1907
Coquette	John I. Thornycroft & Company	8 Jun, 1896	25 Nov, 1897	Nov, 1899	Mined 7 Mar, 1916
Cynthia	John I. Thornycroft & Company	16 Jul, 1896	8 Jan, 1898	Jun, 1899	Broken up 1920
Cygnet	John I. Thornycroft & Company	25 Sep, 1896	3 Sep, 1898	Feb, 1900	Broken up 1920
Stag	John I. Thornycroft & Company	16 Apr, 1898	18 Nov, 1899	Sep, 1900	Broken up 1921
Taku	Schichau-Werke		1898		25 Oct, 1916

Guns

As had been done since the "B" class, the "D" class ships mounted:

One 12-pdr 12 cwt on a P. I mounting. The gun recoiled 12 inches and the mounting and its sights were capable of 30 degree elevations (9500 yards).^[4]
Five Q.F. 6-pdr on Mark I* mountings recoiling 5 inches. The mounting could elevate 30 degrees, but the sight only 25 degrees (4000 yards). By 1920, two 6-pdrs had been removed.^[5] ^[4]

In late-1913, the 12-pdr mountings were equipped with percussion firing gear.^[6]

By 1920, those remaining had also been fitted with a Q.F. 6-pdr on Mark IV H.A. mounting.^[4]

Torpedoes

Two 18-in single torpedo tubes on the centre line.

In 1905-06, it was decreed that all ships but Fame and Foam were to have their 10 cubic foot air compressors replaced by 20 cubic foot models to be able to pump to 2,500 psi. In 1906-07, Fame and Foam were to receive theirs.^[7]

From 1907, the decision was made to standardise the "A" through "D"s with torpedoes set for short range, allotting them the Mark IV S.R..^[8]

Other Weapons

Searchlights

Fire Control

The Technical History and Index indicates that destroyers prior to the Acorn class relied on a visual system for transmitting fire control information.^[9]

By mid-1918, these destroyers were among several earlier classes for which "alarm circuits" were to be fitted.^[10]

Torpedo Control

Footnotes

↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 18.
↑ Smith. Hard Lying. Table 5.
↑ Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (July, 1918). pp. 16, 17, 19, 28.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 Technical History and Index Vol. 4, Part 34, p. 15.
↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, p. 93.
↑ Admiralty Weekly Order No. 430 of 1 Aug, 1913.
↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1904. p. 75.
↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1907. p. 32.
↑ The Technical History and Index, Vol. 4, Part 34. pp. 15-16.
↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1917. p. 232.

Bibliography

Chesneau, Robert; Kolesnik, Eugene (editors) (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
Lyon, David (1996). The First Destroyers. London: Chatham Publishing. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892-1953. London: Seeley Service & Co. Limited. (on Bookfinder.com).
Admiralty, Technical History Section (1920). The Technical History and Index: Alteration in Armaments of H.M. Ships during the War. Vol. 4, Part 34. C.B. 1515 (34) now O.U. 6171/20. At The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom.