List of torpedo boat classes of the Royal Navy

This is a list of torpedo boat classes of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, organised chronologically by entry into service. This article's coverage is restricted to the steam-powered torpedo boats built for or acquired by the British Navy between 1875 (the invention of the Whitehead torpedo) and 1905; the final batch of 36 steam-powered torpedo boats from 1906 to 1908 were originally rated as coastal destroyers and will be found under Cricket-class destroyers, while later torpedo boats powered by internal combustion engines will be found under Motor Torpedo Boats

Torpedo boats

Ever since the first spar-torpedoes in the American Civil War and the Russian Turkish War, the world's sea powers continued to refine the small torpedo craft concept to employ the new automobile torpedoes (Whitehead torpedoes) they could continue the legacy of small and relatively inexpensive vessels able to challenge much larger vessels. The Royal Navy purchased 1st and 2nd class torpedo boats for offensive and defensive combat roles, respectively.

Later – especially to counter the French automobile defense – the British Navy primarily ordered torpedo boat catchers (or torpedo gunboats), which proved too slow for the task of dealing with torpedo boats, and subsequenly torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) - or destroyers as they soon became called.

1st class torpedo boats

First class torpedo boats were designed for independent inshore operations. They were small, but large enough to patrol coastal waters and enjoy some limited endurance beyond their supporting port or tender.

Lightning-design

• John I. Thornycroft & Company, Chiswick
  • No. 1 or HMS Lightning
  • No. 2 - No. 12
• Maudslay, Sons and Field, Lambeth
  • No. 13
• Yarrow & Company, Poplar
  • No. 14
• Hanna, Donald & Wilson, Paislay
  • No. 15
• Stephen Lewin, Poole
  • No. 16 – not in service
• Yarrow & Company, Limited
  • No. 17
  • No. 18
• J. Samuel White, Cowes
  • No. 19
• Rennie, Paislay
  • No. 20
• Des Vignes, Chertsey
  • No. 21 – not accepted from RN because of lack of performance; the number was thus re-used for the first of the 113-footer group.

113-Footers

• John I. Thornycroft & Company
  • No. 21
  • No. 22
• Yarrow & Company, Limited
  • No. 23
  • No. 24

125-Footers

All carried 5 x 14inch torpedo tubes (one bow tube plus two pairs of deck tubes) and a complement of 16. The bow tubes were later removed.

• John I. Thornycroft & Company (1885-86)
  • No. 25
  • No. 26 - No. 29
• Yarrow & Company, Limited (1885-86)
  • No. 30 - No. 33
• J. Samuel White (1885-87)
  • No. 34 - No. 38
• John I. Thornycroft & Company (1886)
  • No. 41 - No. 60 (repeats of Nos 25-29)
• Yarrow & Company, Limited (1886-87)
  • No. 61 - No. 78 (repeats of Nos 30-33)
  • No. 79 (modified from previous design)

100-Footers (purchases)

• Yarrow & Company, Limited
  • No. 39
  • No. 40

135-footer

• Yarrow & Company, Limited
  • No. 80

153-Footer (HMS Swift)

• J. Samuel White
  • No. 81

130-Footers

(ordered under 1887-88 Programme, as repeats of TB.79)

• Yarrow & Company, Limited
  • No. 82
  • No. 83
  • No. 84
  • No. 85
  • No. 86
  • No. 87

140-Footers

• Yarrow & Company, Limited
  • No. 88
  • No. 89
  • No. 90
• John I. Thornycroft & Company
  • No. 91
  • No. 92
  • No. 93
• J. Samuel White
  • No. 94
  • No. 95
  • No. 96
• Laird Brothers, Birkenhead
  • No. 97

135-Footers

(ex Royal Indian Marine boats, taken over by RN in 1892 and given numbers in 1901 instead of their original names)

• John I. Thornycroft & Company
  • No. 100 (ex-Baluchi)
  • No. 102 (ex-Karen}
  • No. 103 (ex-Pathan)
• Hanna, Donald & Wilson
  • No. 101 (ex-Gurkha)
• J. Samuel White
  • No. 104 (ex-Mahratta)
  • No. 105 (ex-Sikh)
  • No. 106 (ex-Rajput)

160-Footers

TB.98 class

TB.98 class

Class overview
Builders	Thornycroft
Completed	4
Lost	0
Scrapped	4
General characteristics
Displacement	185 long tons (188 t) normal 199 long tons (202 t) deep load
Length	160 ft (48.77 m) pp
Beam	17 ft 0 in (5.18 m)
Draught	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Propulsion	3,000 ihp (2,200 kW)
Speed	25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Complement	32
Armament	3 × 3-pounder guns 3 × 18-inch torpedo tubes

Number	Builder	Launched	Notes
TB.98	Thornycroft	22 January 1901	Sold for scrap 30 June 1920
TB.99	Thornycroft	1901	Sank 1907 but salvaged and returned to service Sold for scrap 29 July 1920
TB.107	Thornycroft	2 July 1901	Sold for scrap 29 July 1920
TB.108	Thornycroft	30 August 1901	Sold for scrap 29 July 1920

TB.109 class

TB.109 class

Class overview
Builders	Thornycroft
Completed	5
Lost	0
Scrapped	5
General characteristics
Displacement	200 long tons (200 t) normal 199 long tons (202 t) deep load
Length	164 ft 9 in (50.22 m) wl
Beam	17 ft 3 in (5.26 m)
Draught	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Propulsion	3,050 ihp (2,270 kW)
Speed	25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Complement	32
Armament	3 × 3-pounder guns 3 × 18-inch torpedo tubes

Number	Builder	Launched	Notes
TB.109	Thornycroft	22 July 1902	Sold for scrap 27 March 1920
TB.110	Thornycroft	5 September 1902	Sold for scrap 27 March 1920
TB.111	Thornycroft	31 October 1902	Sold for scrap 10 February 1920
TB.112	Thornycroft	15 January 1903	Sold for scrap 10 February 1920
TB.113	Thornycroft	12 February 1903	Sold for scrap 19 December 1919

TB.114 class

TB.114 class

Class overview
Builders	J S White
Completed	4
Lost	1
Scrapped	3
General characteristics
Displacement	205 long tons (208 t)
Length	165 ft (50.29 m) pp
Beam	17 ft 6 in (5.33 m)
Draught	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Propulsion	2,900 ihp (2,200 kW)
Speed	25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Complement	32
Armament	3 × 3-pounder guns 3 × 18-inch torpedo tubes

Number	Builder	Launched	Notes
TB.114	J Samuel White	8 June 1903	Sold for scrap 1919
TB.115	J Samuel White	19 November 1903	Sold for scrap 1919
TB.116	J Samuel White	21 December 1903	Sold for scrap 22 October 1921
TB.117	J Samuel White	18 February 1904	Sunk following collision with merchant vessel Kamourska in English Channel 10 June 1917 3 killed

Cricket class

No further 1st Class torpedo boats were ordered until 1905, when twelve coastal destroyers were ordered under the 1905-06 Programme. In 1906 these were re-classified as torpedo boats and their original names were replaced by the numbers TB.1 to TB.12. To avoid confusion with the surviving early 1st Class torpedo boats, those survivors bearing numbers up to TB.79 inclusive were renumbered to include a "0" before the number (e.g. TB.79 became TB.079). Twelve more of these new torpedo boats were ordered in the 1906-07 Programme, to enlarged designs, and a final twelve in the 1907-08 Programme; these were numbered TB.13 to TB.36.

2nd class torpedo boats

The first 50 small torpedo boats were to be carried on larger ships or given to dedicated torpedo boat carriers, such as HMS Vulcan and HMS Hecla. The later boats were designed as harbour defence ships and coastal boats, but their small size meant their endurance and seakeeping abilities would be quite modest.

• John I. Thornycroft & Company
  • No. 51 - No. 62
• Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Bristol RI
  • No. 63
• John I. Thornycroft & Company
  • No. 64 - No. 73
• Yarrow & Company, Limited
  • No. 74, No. 75
• John I. Thornycroft & Company
  • No. 76 - No. 95
• Yarrow & Company, Limited
  • No. 96, No. 97
• John I. Thornycroft & Company
  • No. 98
  • No. 99, No. 100

See also

• Cricket-class coastal destroyer as successor for 1st class torpedo boats
• Coastal Motor Boat
• Motor Torpedo Boat
• Motor Gun Boat

References

• Chesneau, Roger and Kolesnik, Eugene (Ed.) Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press, 1979. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4
• Dittmar, F.J. and Colledge, J.J. British Warships 1914–1919. London: Ian Allen, 1972. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
• Friedman, Norman. British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.