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FIGHTING SHIPS OF THE WORLD
UNITED KINGDOM
TORPEDO SHIPS
Palmers 30-knots destroyers, 1895 - 96 order (STAR) (6, 1897 - 1898)


Photo



Star 1899

Ships


Name No Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comp Fate
Star P07, D68, D79, H07   Palmers, Jarrow 23.3.1896 11.8.1896 9.1898 sold 6.1919
Whiting     Palmers, Jarrow 13.4.1896 26.8.1896 6.1897 sold 11.1919
Bat P97, D46, D09, H87   Palmers, Jarrow 28.5.1896 7.10.1896 8.1897 sold 8.1919
Crane P26, D50, D20, H72   Palmers, Jarrow 2.8.1896 17.12.1896 4.1898 sold 6.1919
Chamois     Palmers, Jarrow 28.5.1896 9.11.1896 11.1897 foundered 26.9.1904
Flying Fish P86, D57, D40, H69   Palmers, Jarrow 9.8.1896 4.3.1897 6.1898 sold 8.1919


Technical data


Displacement normal, t390
Displacement full, t

440

Length, m

67.1 oa 65.5 pp

Breadth, m

6.37

Draught, m

2.97

No of shafts

2

Machinery

2 4-cyl VTE, 4 Reed boilers

Power, h. p.

6200

Max speed, kts

30

Fuel, t

coal 95

Endurance, nm(kts)3000(10)
Armament

1 x 1 - 76/40 12pdr 12cwt QF Mk I, 5 x 1 - 57/40 6pdr Hotchkiss Mk I, 2 x 1 - 450 TT (4)

Complement

58



Standard scale images


<i>Crane </i>1898
Crane 1898


Graphics


<i>Star</i> 1899
Star 1899
<i>Crane</i>
Crane


Project history

The successful trials of the first destroyers, particularly Daring, showed that higher speeds than the Admiralty had at first thought possible could be obtained, and in 1894 Thornycroft, Yarrow and Laird were all asked to submit designs for destroyers capable of 30kts, though at that stage orders could not be placed immediately. The first orders went to Thornycroft and Laird, and later other firms produced their own designs and built to them. Yarrow, however, thanks to conflicts with the Admiralty over their 27 knotter destroyers, did not receive any more destroyer orders from the Admiralty for several years, and concentrated on building for foreign navies instead.

As with the 27-knotters all the firms built to their own designs, the only common feature being the complement of 63 and the standard armament of 1 76mm and 5 57mm guns, plus 2 450mm TT. All except Thornycroft used triple expansion engines, whilst Thornycroft continued with their four cylinder compounds. Hulls were lengthened and the machinery was more powerful than the 27-knotters, but fundamentally the 30-knotters were only enlarged versions of the earlier destroyers.

As with the 27-knotters the high trial speeds were never achieved in service, or even in subsequent trials. Sea speed was more often around the 25kts mark, if that. The light structure of these destroyers caused some trouble with leakage and fractures, though in fact it stood up remarkably well to the strains of wartime service between 1914 and 1918 when these by then elderly vessels were mainly used for coastal patrol work. Many had their funnels raised in an attempt to minimize smoke and cinders at deck level.

Though quite a few of these vessels were delayed in their entrance into the service by difficulties in reaching the contract speed, more delay was caused with the later groups of vessels by the severe labour troubles in the late 1890s in the shipbuilding trades.

The first pair were ordered on 23.12.1895 and the remainder on 9.1.1896. Palmer boats were generally considered as perhaps the best all-round vessels of the 30-knotters. Certainly their machinery seems to have had the best reputation amongst engineers.

Modernizations

1916-1917, Star, Bat, Crane, Flying Fish: + 2 DCR

Naval service

Chamois was lost in a very unusual way: 26.9.1904 one of her propeller blades came off when she was doing a speed run in the Gulf of Patras (Greece) and cut a big enough gash to sink her.