HMS Vulcan (1889)

HMS Vulcan, Torpedo Depot ship
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Vulcan
Builder:	Portsmouth Dockyard
Launched:	13 June 1889
General characteristics
Displacement:	6820 tons
Length:	350 ft (110 m) pp
Beam:	58 ft (18 m)
Draught:	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Propulsion:	Humphrys and Tennant. 12,000 IHP twin screw
Speed:	20 kts
Complement:	432
Armament:	8 × 4.7 in 12 × 3 pdr 1 boat gun 16 × machine guns held on deck: 6 × 16ft torpedo boats 2 × countermining launches 4 other steam boats
Armour:	Steel deck, 2.5-5 in

HMS Vulcan was a British torpedo boat depot ship launched in 1889, later converted to a submarine tender in 1908-09.^[1] As a training hulk, she was renamed HMS Defiance III in 1931 and used for training at Torpoint, Cornwall. She was scrapped in Belgium in 1955.

Construction

The increasing numbers of torpedo boats which had entered service produced the need for a specialist support ship. Vulcan could carry six torpedo boats on her deck and had repair workshops and equipment stores. She had an armoured deck and could act as a light cruiser.^[2]

Service history

Vulcan was launched on 13 June 1889. Captain Charles John Briggs was appointed in command on 12 December 1901.^[3]

Notes

1. Jane's Fighting Ships 1919, pp. 139-140. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1919
2. Clowes p.41
3. "Naval & Military intelligence" The Times (London). Saturday, 14 December 1901. (36638), p. 12.

References

• William Laird Clowes (1903). 'The Royal Navy: a history from the earliest times to the present, Vol 7'. London: S.Low, Marston and company. (available at internet archive)

Robert Falcon Scott was on this ship as a midship man 3rd out of 26.