Handy-class destroyer
{{short description|Subclass of the A-class destroyers}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
{{more footnotes|date=January 2013}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= File:HMS Hunter 1895.jpg |Ship caption= HMS Hunter }} {{Infobox ship class overview |Name=Handy class |Builders=Fairfields, Govan |Operators={{navy|United Kingdom}} |Class before={{Sclass|Banshee|destroyer|4}} |Class after={{Sclass|Sunfish|destroyer|4}} |Subclasses= |Built range=1895 |In commission range=1895–1914 |Total ships building= |Total ships planned= |Total ships completed=3 |Total ships cancelled= |Total ships active= |Total ships laid up= |Total ships lost= |Total ships retired=3 |Total ships scrapped= |Total ships preserved= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type=Torpedo boat destroyer |Ship displacement= {{convert|275|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} |Ship length= {{convert|194|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship propulsion=Thornycroft boilers, {{convert|4000|hp|0|abbr=on}} |Ship speed={{convert|27|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship complement=53 |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*1 × 12-pounder gun
|Ship armour= |Ship notes= }} |
Three Handy-class destroyers served with the Royal Navy. {{HMS|Handy|1895|2}}, {{HMS|Hart|1895|2}} and {{HMS|Hunter|1895|2}} were all built by Fairfield.
Design and construction
As part of the 1893–1894 Naval Estimates, the British Admiralty placed orders for 36 torpedo-boat destroyers, all to be capable of {{convert|27|kn}}, as a follow-on to the six prototype "26-knotters" ordered in the previous 1892–1893 Estimates. Of the 36 destroyers, three ships (Handy, Hart and Hunter) were ordered from Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan,Lyon 2001, pp. 19–20. the first torpedo craft to be built by that shipyard.Lyon 2001, p. 87. As typical for torpedo craft at the time, the Admiralty left detailed design to the builders, laying down only broad requirements.Chesneau and Kolesnik 1979, p. 87.Manning 1961, p. 39.
Fairfield's design was {{convert|197|ft|m|2}} long overall and {{convert|194|ft|m|2}} between perpendiculars, with a beam of {{convert|19|ft|5|in|m}} and a draught of {{convert|7|ft|6|in}}. Displacement was {{convert|275|LT|t}} light and {{convert|310|LT|t}} full load, while the ship's complement was 53 officers and men.Manning 1961, p. 36. Three Thornycroft boilers fed steam at {{convert|215|psi}} to two 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engines rated at {{convert|4000|ihp|lk=in}} and driving two propeller shafts. Two funnels were fitted.Friedman 2009, p. 48. Armament consisted of a single QF 12 pounder 12 cwt{{#tag:ref|"Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 12cwt referring to the weight of the gun.|group=lower-alpha}} gun and three 6-pounder guns, with two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.Friedman 2009, p. 291. As a gunboat, one of the torpedo tubes could be removed to accommodate a further two six-pounders.Lyon 2001, pp. 98–99.Friedman 2009, p. 40.{{#tag:ref|While many of the 27-knotters later carried both the two torpedo tubes and all 5 six-pounder guns, stability concerns prevented Handy from following suit.Lyon 2003, p. 100.|group=lower-alpha}}
In September 1913 the Admiralty re-classed all the surviving 27-knotter destroyers as A Class, although this only applied to Handy herself as the other two ships had already been sold for scrap in 1912.
See also
References
=Notes=
{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
=Citations=
{{Reflist|2}}
=Bibliography=
{{Commons category|Handy class destroyer}}
- {{cite book|last=Brassey|first=T.A.|title=The Naval Annual 1897|year=1897|publisher=J. Griffin and Co|location=Portsmouth, UK}}
- {{cite book|last=Brown|first=David K.|title=Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860–1905|year=2003|publisher=Caxton Editions|location=London|isbn=1-84067-5292}}
- {{cite book|author=Chan Lau Kit-Ching|title=China, Britain & Hong Kong 1895–1945|year=1990|publisher=The Chinese University Press|location=Hong Kong|isbn=962-201-409-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ee5Qr6dn_SAC&q=HMS+Handy&pg=PA97}}
- {{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 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-133-5}}
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- {{cite book|last=Crowe|first=George|title=The Commission of H.M.S. Terrible: 1898–1902|year=1903|publisher=George Newnes|location=London|url=https://archive.org/details/commissionofhmst00crow}}
- {{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}}
- {{cite book|last=Lyon|first=David|title=The First Destroyers|year=2001|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}}
{{Handy class destroyer}}
{{A class destroyer (1913)}}