125 Footer Class Torpedo Boat (1885)

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Britain built fifty-eight first-class torpedo boats called 125 Footers in reaction to the war scare with Russia.

T.B. 25 built by Thornycroft served as the prototype.


T.B. 25

Thornycroft Boats

Thornycroft produced two batches of four and twenty vessels. Power levels of 700-750 I.H.P. delivered speeds ranging from 19.5 to 21.5 knots. All eventually had the bull-nose of T.B. 25 removed, which cost them their bow tube.[1]

Yarrow Boats

Yarrow produced two batches of four and eighteen vessels.[2]

White Boats

White built five boats ranging from 60 to 66 tons in displacement. They could make 18-19 knots. The stern was "cut-up" in a curve to improve steering.

T.B. 79

T.B. 79 was built by Yarrow to slightly different specs. She was 128 feet overall and displaced 25% more at 75 tons. She had V.T.E. engines and two funnels rather than one. Lastly, a reshaped hull form was intended to improve poor steering in the previous Yarrow 125 Footers.[3]

Armament

A single bow-mounted tube for 14-in Whitehead torpedoes. By the early 1900s, this had been removed.[4]

Two 3-pdrs and two 2-barrel Nordenfeld M.G.s (some of these, possibly just the Nordenfelds, were replaced by 0.45-in 5-barrel M.G.s)[5]

An alternative armament permitted them to land the 3-pdrs for two "pairs" of deck torpedo tubes, which almost certainly means just two tubes.[Inference][6]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 103.
  2. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 103.
  3. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 103.
  4. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 103.
  5. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 103.
  6. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 103.

Bibliography


125 Footer Class First-class Torpedo Boat
Prototype
  T.B. 25  
Thornycroft Boats
T.B. 26 T.B. 27 T.B. 28 T.B. 29 T.B. 41
T.B. 42 T.B. 43 T.B. 44 T.B. 45 T.B. 46
T.B. 47 T.B. 48 T.B. 49 T.B. 50 T.B. 51
T.B. 52 T.B. 53 T.B. 54 T.B. 55 T.B. 56
  T.B. 57 T.B. 58 T.B. 59 T.B. 60  
Yarrow Boats
T.B. 30 T.B. 31 T.B. 32 T.B. 33 T.B. 61
T.B. 62 T.B. 63 T.B. 64 T.B. 65 T.B. 66
T.B. 67 T.B. 68 T.B. 69 T.B. 70 T.B. 71
T.B. 72 T.B. 73 T.B. 74 T.B. 75 T.B. 76
  T.B. 77 T.B. 78  
White Boats
T.B. 34 T.B. 35 T.B. 36 T.B. 37 T.B. 38
Yarrow Special
  T.B. 79  
<– H.M. T.B. 81 Torpedo Boats (UK) H.M. T.B. 80 –>
<– H.M. T.B. 81 First-class Torpedo Boats (UK) H.M. T.B. 80 –>