HMS Angler (1897)

She was laid down as yard number 313 on 21 December 1896, at the John I Thornycroft and Company shipyard at Chiswick on the River Thames. She was launched on 2 February 1897. During her builder's trials her maximum average speed was 30.4 knots. She proceeded to Portsmouth to have her armament fitted. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in July 1898. During her acceptance trials and work ups her average sea speed was 25 knots.

After commissioning she was assigned to the Chatham Division of the Harwich Flotilla, where she was part of the Medway Instructional Flotilla. She was the flotilla leader under the command of Commander John de Robeck during exercises in 1899. Lieutenant Charles Tibbits was appointed in command in September 1899, serving as such for a year until September 1900. In October 1901 she collided in heavy wind near Felixstowe pier with the passenger steamer Suffolk, and the stem was damaged.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=31 October 1901 |page=11 |issue=36600| }} She was quickly repaired, and left Sheerness to rejoin the instructional flotilla in early December.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=3 December 1901 |page=6 |issue=36628| }} In early August 1902 she was again back in the Medway flotilla, taking the crew of {{HMS|Porcupine|1895|6}} under the command of Lieutenant George Geoffrey Codrington.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=30 July 1902 |page=10 |issue=36833| }} She took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII,{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Coronation - Naval Review |date=13 August 1902 |page=4 |issue=36845| }} before Codrington and the crew turned over to HMS Hardy which replaced her in the flotilla in December the same year.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=2 December 1902 |page=6 |issue=36940| }}

In 1903 she deployed to the Mediterranean Fleet.

On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by alpha characters starting with the letter 'A'. Since her design speed was 30-knots and she had two funnels she was assigned to the D class. After 30 September 1913, she was known as a D-class destroyer and had the letter 'D' painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.{{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906 to 1922|orig-year=1985 |date= 2006| publisher=Conway Maritime Press|isbn=0-85177-245-5|page=Page 17 to 19}}

August 1914 found her in commission in the Portsmouth Local Flotilla tendered to HMS Excellent, the Portsmouth-based gunnery school. She remained in this deployment for the duration of the First World War.{{cite web|title=HMS Angler at the Naval Database website|url=http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/A/00258.html|access-date=20 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217224326/http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/A/00258.html|archive-date=17 December 2013|url-status=dead}}

In 1919 she was paid off and laid-up in reserve awaiting disposal. She was sold on 20 May 1920 to Thos. W. Ward of Sheffield for breaking at Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire in Wales.

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|editor2-last=Kolesnik|editor2-first=Eugene M.|title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905|year=1979 |name-list-style=amp |publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London |isbn=0-85177-133-5}}
• {{Cite Colledge2006}}
• {{cite book|last1=Dittmar|first1=F.J.|last2=Colledge|first2=J. J.|title=British Warships 1914–1919|year=1972|publisher=Ian Allan|location=Shepperton, UK|isbn=0-7110-0380-7}}
• {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War|year=2009|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-84832-049-9}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Gray|editor2-first=Randal|title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921|year=1985|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-245-5|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book|last=Jane|first=Fred T.|title=Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships 1898|year=1969|publisher=first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1898, Reprinted ARCO Publishing Company|location=New York|orig-year=1898}}
• {{cite book|last=Jane|first=Fred T.|title=Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I|year=1990|publisher=Jane’s Publishing |orig-year=1919|isbn=1-85170-378-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Lyon|first=David|title=The First Destroyers|year=2001|orig-year=1996|publisher=Caxton Editions|location=London|isbn=1-84067-364-8}}
• {{cite book|last=Manning|first=T. D.|title=The British Destroyer|year=1961|publisher=Putnam & Co.|location=London|oclc= 6470051}}
• {{cite book|last=March|first=Edgar J.|title=British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans|year=1966|publisher=Seeley Service|location=London |oclc=164893555}}

{{D class destroyer}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angler}}

Category:Ships built in Chiswick

Category:1897 ships

Category:D-class destroyers (1913)

Category:Ships built by John I. Thornycroft & Company