View source for Havock-class destroyer

{{short description|Subclass of the A-class destroyers}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[File:HMS Havock (1893).jpg|300px|HMS Havock]] 
|Ship caption={{HMS|Havock|1893|6}}
}}
{{Infobox ship class overview
|Name=''Havock'' class
|Builders= [[Yarrow & Company]], London 
|Operators={{navy|United Kingdom}}
|Class before={{sclass|Daring|destroyer (1893)|4}}
|Class after={{sclass|Ferret|destroyer|4}}
|Subclasses=
|Cost=£66,948 for 2 ships
|Built range=1893 
|In service range=
|In commission range=1893–1912
|Total ships building= 
|Total ships planned=2
|Total ships completed=2
|Total ships cancelled=
|Total ships active=
|Total ships laid up=
|Total ships lost=
|Total ships retired=2
|Total ships preserved=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=<ref name=Lyon53/>
|Ship class=
|Ship type=[[Torpedo boat destroyer]]
|Ship tonnage=
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|240|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} light
*{{convert|275|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} full load
|Ship length=*{{convert|185|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} [[length overall|oa]]
*{{convert|180|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} [[length between perpendiculars|pp]]
|Ship beam={{convert|18|ft|6|in|m|2|abbr=on}}
|Ship height=
|Ship draught={{convert|7|ft|6|in|m|2|abbr=on}}
|Ship depth=
|Ship power=c. {{convert|3700|ihp|kW|abbr=on|lk=in}}
|Ship propulsion=*8 × Yarrow water-tube boilers (''Hornet'')
*2 × locomotive boilers (''Havock'')
*2 × triple-expansion [[steam engine]]s
*2 shafts
|Ship speed= {{convert|26.78|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range= {{convert|3000|nmi|km|abbr=on}}
|Ship endurance=
|Ship complement=46
|Ship armament=*1 × [[QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval gun|12-pounder gun]]
*3 × 6-pounder guns
*3 (later 2) × [[torpedo tube]]s (1 bow, 2 beam)
|Ship armour=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

The '''''Havock'' class''' was a [[ship class|class]] of [[destroyer|torpedo boat destroyer]] (TBD) of the British [[Royal Navy]]. The two ships, {{HMS|Havock|1893|2}} and {{HMS|Hornet|1893|2}}, built in London in 1893 by [[Yarrow & Company]], were the first TBDs to be completed for the [[Royal Navy]], although the equivalent pair from [[John I. Thornycroft & Company|J.I. Thornycroft]], {{HMS|Daring|1893|2}} and {{HMS|Decoy|1894|2}}, were ordered five days earlier.

==Background==
The invention of the self-propelled [[torpedo]] by [[Robert Whitehead]] and [[Austro-Hungarian Navy|Austrian Navy]] Captain [[Giovanni Luppis]] in 1866, combined with the introduction of small fast [[torpedo boat]]s, posed a threat to [[battleship]]s: large numbers of torpedo boats could overwhelm a battleship's defences and sink it, or distract the battleship and make it vulnerable to opposing capital ships. Torpedo boats proved devastatingly effective in the [[1891 Chilean Civil War]].

The defence against torpedo boats was clear: small warships accompanying the fleet which could screen and protect it from attack by torpedo boats. Several European navies developed vessels variously known as torpedo boat "catchers", "hunters", and "destroyers"; while the Royal Navy itself operated [[torpedo gunboat]]s.  However, the early designs lacked the range and speed to keep up with the fleet they were supposed to protect. In 1892, the [[Third Sea Lord]], [[Rear Admiral]] [[John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher|Jackie Fisher]], ordered the development of a new type of ships equipped with the then novel [[water-tube boiler]]s and [[British ordnance terms#QF|quick-firing]] small calibre guns.

==Orders==
Six ships to the specifications circulated by the Admiralty were ordered initially, comprising three different designs each produced by a different shipbuilder:
* {{HMS|Havock|1893|6}} and {{HMS|Hornet|1893|6}} from Yarrows.
* {{HMS|Daring|1893|6}} and {{HMS|Decoy|1894|6}} from [[John I. Thornycroft & Company]] (the [[Daring class destroyer (1893)|''Daring'' class]]).
* {{HMS|Ferret|1893|6}} and {{HMS|Lynx|1894|6}} from [[Cammell Laird|Laird, Son & Company]] (the {{sclass|Ferret|destroyer|4}}).

==Design==
[[File:HMS Hornet model side.jpg|right|thumb|A model of {{HMS|Hornet|1893|2}} ([[Glasgow Museum of Transport]])]]

''Havock'' was built with conventional locomotive boilers (giving her two closely spaced funnels) while ''Hornet'' was provided with 8 [[water tube boiler]]s (giving her 4 widely spaced funnels). In other respects they were largely identical.<ref name=Lyon55>Lyon (1996), p.55.</ref>

All the boats featured a turtleback (i.e. rounded) [[forecastle]], characteristic of early British TBDs. All six were removed from service and disposed of by the end of 1912, and thus were not affected by the Admiralty decision in 1913 to group all the surviving 27-knot and 30-knot destroyers, which had followed the six 26-knot vessels, into four heterogeneous classes, labelled "A", "B", "C" and "D".

The design of the Russian Russian [[Russian destroyer Sokol (1895)|''Sokol''-class destroyers]] was strongly influenced by the ''Havock''-class.<ref>David Lyon:  ''The First Destroyers.'' London: Caxton Editions 2001, p. 120.</ref>

==Construction and trials==
''Havock'' was launched first, on 12 August 1893.<ref name=Lyon53>Lyon (1996), p.53.</ref> Her sea trials on 28 October 1893 were successful, her top speed indicating that she was capable of keeping up with battleships. However, her bow torpedo tube proved to be useless as the ship would usually outrun her own torpedo. It also tended to cause the bows to dig into the sea, resulting in a very wet turtleback. As such it (and later, the turtleback) was absent in later destroyers.

''Havock'' "behaved well" on trials. It was noted that ''Hornet'' "steers readily and well" but her coal consumption trial revealed that she used considerably more fuel than her sister.<ref name=Lyon55/>

==Ships==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
!Name||Ship Builder<ref name=Lyon53/>||Laid down<ref name=Lyon53/>||Launched<ref name=Lyon53/>||Completed<ref name=Lyon53/>||Fate<ref name=Lyon56/>
|-
|{{HMS|Havock|1893|2}}||[[Yarrow & Company]]||1 July 1892 ||12 August 1893||January 1894 ||Sold 14 May 1912
|-
|{{HMS|Hornet|1893|2}}||Yarrow & Company||1 July 1892  ||13 December 1893||July 1894 ||Sold 12 October 1909
|}

Four other boats based on the ''Havock'' class, the ''Corrientes'' Class torpedo boat destroyers, were built for the [[Argentine Navy]]:<ref name=Lyon58>Lyon (1996), p. 58.</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
!Name||Ship Builder||Launched{{cn|date=January 2021}}||Fate{{cn|date=January 2021}}
|-
| {{ill|ARA Corrientes (1897)|lt=''Corrientes''|2=es}} || Yarrow & Company || 1897 || Scrapped 1930
|-
| {{ill|ARA Misiones (1897)|lt=''Misiones''|2=es}}  || Yarrow & Company || 1897 || Scrapped 1930
|-
| {{ill|ARA Entre Ríos (1896)|lt=''Entre Ríos''|2=es}}  || Yarrow & Company || 1896 || Scrapped 1930
|-
| {{ill|ARA Santa Fe (1896)|lt=''Santa Fe''|2=es}} || Yarrow & Company || 1896 || Sunk in [[Uruguay]] 1897
|}

==Royal Naval Service==
Both ships served in home waters, although ''Hornet'' was briefly in the Mediterranean in 1909.<ref name=Lyon56/> ''Havock'' had her locomotive boilers replaced with water-tube boilers in 1899–1900, altering her appearance to a more standard 3-funnel arrangement.<ref name=Lyon56/>

==Fate==
''Havock'' and ''Hornet'' did not survive to see [[World War I]], being broken up in 1912 and 1909 respectively.<ref name=Lyon56>Lyon (1996), p.56.</ref> With the exception of ''ARA Santa Fe'' (sunk 1897), three Argentine Corrientes Class boats served until 1930.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{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|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=Lyon  |first=David
  |title=The First Destroyers
  |year=2001|location=London|publisher=Caxton Editions|orig-year=1996
  |isbn=1-84067-364-8
  |ref=Lyon, The First Destroyers}}
*{{cite book | author=Manning, T. D. | title=The British Destroyer | publisher=Putnam & Co. | year=1961|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}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Havock class destroyer}}
* [http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/hms_hornet.htm ''Havock'' and ''Hornet'' at battleships-cruisers.co.uk]

{{Havock class destroyer}}
{{A class destroyer (1913)}}

[[Category:Destroyer classes]]
[[Category:Havock-class destroyers| ]]
[[Category:Ship classes of the Royal Navy]]