Sturgeon-class destroyer
{{short description|Subclass of the A-class destroyers}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS Sturgeon by James Scott Maxwell.png |Ship caption=A watercolour of Sturgeon c. 1901 }} {{Infobox ship class overview |Name=Sturgeon class |Builders=Vickers |Operators={{navy|United Kingdom}} |Class before={{Sclass|Rocket|destroyer|4}} |Class after={{Sclass|Swordfish|destroyer|4}} |Subclasses= |Built range=1894–1895 |In commission range=1894–1911 |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= |Total ships scrapped=3 |Total ships preserved= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type=Torpedo boat destroyer |Ship displacement= |Ship length= |Ship beam= |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship propulsion=Blechynden 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= }} |
The Sturgeon-class destroyers served with the Royal Navy from 1894; three were built by the Vickers yard and differed from other similar ships in having their mast stepped before the first funnel. They had Blechynden boilers which gave them {{convert|4,000|hp|lk=in|abbr=on}} and {{convert|27|kn}}. They were armed with one twelve pounder and two torpedo tubes. They carried a complement of 53 officers and men.
Construction and design
On 8 November 1893, the British Admiralty placed an order with the Naval Construction and Armament Company of Barrow-in-Furness (later to become part of Vickers) for three "Twenty-Seven Knotter" destroyers as part of the 1893–1894 construction programme for the Royal Navy,Lyon 2001, p. 69. with in total, 36 destroyers being ordered from various shipbuilders for this programme.Lyon 2001, p. 19.
The Admiralty only laid down a series of broad requirements for the destroyers, leaving detailed design to the ships' builders. The requirements included a trial speed of {{convert|27|kn|mph km/h}}, a "turtleback" forecastle and a standard armament of a 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), with a secondary armament of five 6-pounder guns, and two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.Lyon 2001, p. 20.Lyon 2001, pp. 98–99.Friedman 2009, p. 40.
The Naval Construction and Armament Company produced a design with a length of {{convert|194|ft|6|in|m|2}} overall and {{convert|190|ft|m|2}} between perpendiculars, with a beam of {{convert|19|ft|m|2}} and a draught of {{convert|7|ft|7|in|m|2}}. Displacement was {{convert|300|LT|lk=on}} light and {{convert|340|LT}} deep load. Three funnels were fitted, with the foremast between the ship's bridge and the first funnel.Friedman 2009, p. 50.Manning 1961, p. 38. Four Blechyndnen water-tube boilers fed steam at {{convert|200|psi}} to two three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines rated at {{convert|4000|ihp}}.The Engineer 11 October 1895, p. 365. 60 tons of coal were carried,Brassey 1902, p. 274. giving a range of {{convert|1370|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|11|kn}}.Friedman 2009, p. 291. The ship's crew was 53 officers and men.
All three ships had been sold for scrapping before 1913 when the Admiralty re-classed the surviving 27-knotter destroyers as A Class destroyers.{{Cite web |title=Auction of Sturgeon. |url=https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-763822}}
See also
Ships
{{Expand section|date=November 2016}}
- {{HMS|Sturgeon|1894|2}}
- {{HMS|Starfish|1894|2}}
- {{HMS|Skate|1895|2}}
References
=Notes=
{{reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{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 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=Layman|first=R. D.|chapter=Naval Kite Trials|editor-last=Roberts|editor-first=John|title=Warship 1994|year=1994|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|pages= 35–51|isbn=0-85177-630-2}}
- {{cite book|last=Lyon|first=David|title=The First Destroyers|year=2001|publisher=Caxton Editions|location=London|isbn=1-84067-3648|orig-year=1996}}
- {{cite book |last=Manning |first=Captain T. D. |title=The British Destroyer |publisher=Putnam and Co |year=1961|oclc= 6470051}}
- {{cite magazine|title=Speed Trials of the Torpedo Boat Destroyer Starfish|magazine=The Engineer|date=11 October 1895|page=365|volume= 80|url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/images/1/1a/Er18951011.pdf}}
{{Sturgeon class destroyer}}
{{A class destroyer (1913)}}