HMS Ariel (1897)

HMS Ariel
History
Name:	HMS Ariel
Ordered:	1895 – 1896 Naval Estimates
Builder:	John I Thornycroft, Chiswick
Yard number:	314
Laid down:	23 April 1896
Launched:	5 March 1897
Commissioned:	October 1898
Fate:	Wrecked, 19 April 1907
General characteristics [1][2]
Class and type:	Two funnel, 30 knot destroyer
Displacement:	270 t (266 long tons) standard 352 t (346 long tons) full load
Length:	210 ft (64 m) o/a
Beam:	19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
Draught:	7 ft 8 in (2.34 m)
Installed power:	5,700 shp (4,300 kW)
Propulsion:	4 × Thornycroft water tube boilers 2 × vertical triple-expansion steam engines 2 shafts
Speed:	30 kn (56 km/h)
Range:	80 tons coal 1,310 nmi (2,430 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h)
Complement:	65 officers and men
Armament:	1 × QF 12-pounder 12 cwt Mark I L/40 gun on a P Mark I low angle mount 5 × QF 6-pdr 8 cwt L/40 gun on a Mark I* low angle mount 2 × single tubes for 18-inch (450 mm) torpedoes
Service record

HMS Ariel was a two funnel, 30 knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895 – 1896 Naval Estimates. Named after Shakespeare's "airy spirit", or the biblical spirit of the same name, she was the ninth ship of the name to serve in the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1897, served at Chatham and Malta, and was wrecked in a storm in 1907.

Construction

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, Angler and Ariel were repeats of the four thirty-knotters ordered from Thornycroft under the previous year's programme (Desperate, Fame, Foam and Mallard) and as such shared the same design features.^[3]

Thornycroft's design had three water-tube boilers supplying steam at 220 pounds per square inch (1,500 kPa) to 2 four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, rated at 5,700 indicated horsepower (4,300 kW), and had two funnels.^[4][5] The ship was 210 feet 0 inches (64.01 m) long overall and 208 feet 0 inches (63.40 m) at the waterline, with a beam of 19 feet 6 inches (5.94 m) and a draught of 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m). Displacement was 272 long tons (276 t) light and 352 long tons (358 t) full load,^[3] while crew was 63 officers and men.^[6] The ships were required to reach a speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) during sea trials and carry an armament of a single QF 12 pounder 12 cwt (3 in (76 mm) calibre) gun, backed up by five 6-pounder guns, and two 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. An arched turtleback^{[lower-alpha 1]} forecastle was to be fitted.^[8][9]

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.^[3] During sea trials, she reached 30.82 knots (57.08 km/h; 35.47 mph) over the measured mile and 30.194 knots (55.919 km/h; 34.747 mph) in the three-hour trial.^[10] Ariel was completed in October 1898.^[3]

Pre-War

After commissioning Ariel was assigned to the Chatham Division of the Harwich Flotilla where she participated in the exercises with Angler in 1899. The following year she was part of the Medway Instructional Flotilla.^[11]

She was commissioned at Chatham on 22 August 1901 by Lieutenant and Commander L. G. D. Way, with a complement of 60 officers and men, to serve at the Mediterranean station.^[12] Upon arrival at Gibraltar she replaced Hornet as tender to the receiving ship Cormorant. On 3 December 1901 she arrived in Malta from Gibraltar, and in early March 1902 Lieutenant V. E. B. Phillimore was appointed in command.^[13]

Loss

On 19 April 1907 she was wrecked when she ran aground on a breakwater just outside Grand Harbour, Valletta at night. All of her crew survived,^[14] and were rescued by the destroyer Bruiser.^[10]

References

1. A turtleback is an arched structure over the deck of a ship, normally at the ship's bow, to protect against reach seas.^[7]

1. Jane’s All The Worlds Fighting Ships (1898), pp.84-85.
2. Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I (1919), p.76.
3. Lyon 2001, p. 47.
4. Lyon 2001, pp. 45, 47.
5. Friedman 2009, pp. 48–49.
6. Manning 1961, p. 40.
7. "turtleback: Definitions". wordnik.com. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
8. Lyon 2001, pp. 22–23.
9. Lyon 2001, pp. 98–99.
10. Lyon 2001, p. 48.
11. "Naval & Military intelligence" The Times (London). Tuesday, 30 January 1900. (36052), p. 11.
12. "Naval & Military intelligence" The Times (London). Friday, 23 August 1901. (36541), p. 4.
13. "Naval & Military intelligence" The Times (London). Friday, 28 February 1902. (36703), p. 5.
14. Kemp 1999, p. 3.

• Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M. (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
• Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.
• Jane, Fred T. (1969) [1898]. Jane’s All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1898. New York: first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1898, Reprinted ARCO Publishing Company.
• Jane, Fred T. (1990) [1919]. Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I. Jane’s Publishing. ISBN 1 85170 378 0.
• Kemp, Paul (1999). The Admiralty Regrets: British Warship Losses of the 20th Century. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-1567-6.
• Lyon, David (2001). The First Destroyers. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-3648.
• Manning, T.D. (1961). The British Destroyer. London: Putnam.