HMS Hardy (1895)

HMS Hardy was one of the two destroyers ordered from William Doxford & Sons on 3 November 1893 as part of the Royal Navy's 1893–1894 construction programme.{{harvnb|Lyon|2001|p=82}}

The Admiralty did not specify a standard design for destroyers, laying down broad requirements, including a trial speed of {{convert|27|kn|mph km/h}}, a "turtleback"{{#tag:ref|A fore deck with exaggerated camber designed to throw off sea water at high speeds.{{harvnb|Gardiner|Lambert|1992|p=188}}|group=lower-alpha}} forecastle and armament, which was to vary depending on whether the ship was to be used in the torpedo boat or gunboat role.{{harvnb|Lyon|2001|p=20}} As a torpedo boat, the planned armament was a single QF 12 pounder 12 cwt ({{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}} calibre) gun on a platform on the ship's conning tower (in practice the platform was also used as the ship's bridge), together with a secondary gun armament of three 6-pounder guns, and two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. As a gunboat, one of the torpedo tubes could be removed to accommodate a further two six-pounders.{{harvnb|Lyon|2001|pp=98–99}}{{harvnb|Friedman|2009|p=40}}

Doxford's design had a hull of length {{convert|200|ft|3|in|m}} overall and {{convert|196|ft|m|2}} between perpendiculars, with a beam of {{convert|19|ft|m|2}} and a draught of {{convert|7|ft|9|in}}. Eight Yarrow boilers fed steam at {{convert|185|psi}} to triple expansion steam engines rated at {{convert|4200|ihp|lk=in}} and driving two propeller shafts. Displacement was {{convert|260|LT|t|lk=on}} light and {{convert|325|LT|t}} deep load. Unusually for the destroyers ordered under the 1893–1894 programme, the Admiralty accepted a guaranteed speed of {{convert|26|kn}}, rather than the more normal 27 knots, possibly owing to Doxford's inexperience in building torpedo-craft.{{harvnb|Chesneau|Kolesnik|1979|p=91}} This speed dropped to {{convert|22|kn}} at deep load. Sufficient coal was carried to give a range of {{convert|1155|nmi}} at {{convert|11|kn}}.{{harvnb|Friedman|2009|p=290}} Three funnels were fitted. The ship's complement was 50 officers and men.{{harvnb|Brassey|1902|p=274}}

She was laid down as Yard Number 226 at Doxford's Sunderland shipyard on 4 June 1894, and was launched on 16 December 1895. Sea trials were successful,{{harvnb|Lyon|2001| p=83}} with the ship reaching an average speed of {{convert|26.8|kn}}, and she was completed in August 1896.

She saw early service in home waters. In 1896 Hardy was in reserve at Chatham.{{cite magazine|title=Naval Matters: Past and Prospective: The Reserve of Ships and Men|magazine=The Marine Engineer|date=July 1896|page=155|volume=18}} Lieutenant Harry Hesketh Smyth was appointed in command in April 1900,{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence|date=2 April 1900 | page=7 |issue=36105}} as she was readied for service with the Mediterranean Squadron, from where she was relieved by the destroyer {{HMS|Mallard|1896|6}} in late May 1902.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence|date=21 May 1902 |page=10 |issue=36773}} She arrived at Plymouth on 5 July 1902, and paid off at Chatham later the same month.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=7 July 1900 |page=6 |issue=36813}} Lieutenant Robert Gordon Douglas Dewar was appointed in command during summer 1902,{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=14 March 1902 |page=9 |issue=36715}} and was briefly succeeded by Lieutenant George Geoffrey Codrington from late 1902 until January 1903, when she took the place of HMS Angler in the Medway instructional flotilla.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=21 November 1902 |page=5 |issue=36931}}

Hardy was sold for scrap at Devonport for £1400 on 11 July 1911.{{cite magazine| title=Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Devonport Dockyard |journal=The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect |volume=34|date=August 1911|p=14}}

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Brassey|first=T.A.|title=The Naval Annual 1902|year=1902|publisher=J. Griffin and Co|location=Portsmouth, UK}}
• {{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 |editor1-last=Gardiner |editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Lambert|editor2-first=Andrew |title=Steam, Steel & Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905|series=Conway's History of the Ship|year=1992|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-564-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Lyon|first=David|title=The First Destroyers|year=2001|orig-year=1996|publisher=Caxton Editions|location=London|isbn=1-84067-3648}}
• {{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}}

{{Hardy class destroyer}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy (1895)}}

Category:Hardy-class destroyers

Category:Ships built on the River Wear

Category:1895 ships

Category:A-class destroyers (1913)