HMS Ariel (1897)

The British Admiralty ordered two "thirty-knotter" torpedo boat destroyers from John I. Thornycroft & Company as part of the 1895–96 shipbuilding programme for the Royal Navy. The two ships, {{HMS|Angler|1897|2}} and Ariel were repeats of the four thirty-knotters ordered from Thornycroft under the previous year's programme ({{HMS|Desperate|1896|2}}, {{HMS|Fame|1896|2}}, {{HMS|Foam|1896|2}} and {{HMS|Mallard|1896|2}}) and as such shared the same design features.Lyon 2001, p. 47.

Thornycroft's design had three water-tube boilers supplying steam at {{convert|220|psi}} to 2 four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, rated at {{convert|5700|ihp|kW|lk=in}}, and had two funnels.Lyon 2001, pp. 45, 47.Friedman 2009, pp. 48–49. The ship was {{convert|210|ft|0|in|m}} long overall and {{convert|208|ft|0|in|m}} at the waterline, with a beam of {{convert|19|ft|6|in|m}} and a draught of {{convert|5|ft|6|in|m}}. Displacement was {{convert|272|LT|t}} light and {{convert|352|LT|t}} full load, while crew was 63 officers and men.Manning 1961, p. 40. The ships were required to reach a speed of {{convert|30|kn}} during sea trials and carry an armament of a single QF 12 pounder 12 cwt ({{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}} calibre) gun, backed up by five 6-pounder guns, and two 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. An arched turtleback{{#tag:ref|A turtleback is an arched structure over the deck of a ship, normally at the ship's bow, to protect against reach seas.{{cite web|title=turtleback: Definitions|url=https://www.wordnik.com/words/turtleback|website=wordnik.com|access-date=19 October 2014}}|group=lower-alpha}} forecastle was to be fitted.Lyon 2001, pp. 22–23.Lyon 2001, pp. 98–99.

She was laid down as yard number 314 on 23 April 1896 at Thornycroft's shipyard at Chiswick on the River Thames and was launched on 5 March 1897. During sea trials, she reached {{convert|30.82|kn}} over the measured mile and {{convert|30.194|kn}} in the three-hour trial.Lyon 2001, p. 48. Ariel was completed in October 1898.

After commissioning Ariel was assigned to the Chatham Division of the Harwich Flotilla where she participated in the exercises with {{HMS|Angler|1897|2}} in 1899. The following year she was part of the Medway Instructional Flotilla.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=30 January 1900 |page=11 |issue=36052}} Lieutenant Henry Cyril Royds Brocklebank was appointed in command on 1 March 1900.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=15 February 1900 |page=8 |issue=36066}}

She was commissioned at Chatham on 22 August 1901 with a complement of 60 officers and men, to serve at the Mediterranean station.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=23 August 1901 |page=4 |issue=36541}} Upon arrival at Gibraltar she replaced {{HMS|Hornet|1893|2}} as tender to the receiving ship {{HMS|Cormorant|1877|2}}. On 3 December 1901 she arrived in Malta from Gibraltar.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=28 February 1902 |page=5 |issue=36703}}

On 5 November 1904 in the context of the aftermath of the Dogger Bank incident she shadowed the Russian fleet leaving Tangier.{{cite book |last=Pleshakov |first=Constantine |title=The Tsar's Last Armada |publisher=Basic Books |publication-place=Oxford |date=2002 |isbn=1-903985-31-5 |page=112}}

On 19 April 1907, Ariel was wrecked when she ran aground on a breakwater just outside Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta, at night. All of her crew survived,Kemp 1999, p. 3. and were rescued by the destroyer {{HMS|Bruiser|1895|2}}.

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{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}}
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• {{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}}
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• {{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}}

{{1907 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ariel}}

Category:Ships built in Chiswick

Category:1897 ships

Category:D-class destroyers (1913)

Category:Maritime incidents in 1907

Category:Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea

Category:Shipwrecks of Malta

Category:Ships built by John I. Thornycroft & Company