Spiteful-class destroyer

Class overview
Name	Spiteful-class
Builders	Cammell Laird, Birkenhead
Operators	Royal Navy
Built	1898–1899
In commission	1899–1920
Completed	2
Scrapped	2
General characteristics
Type	Torpedo boat destroyer
Displacement	350 long tons (356 t)
Length	210 ft (64 m)
Propulsion	Triple expansion steam engines Coal-fired Normand boilers 6,300 hp (4,698 kW)
Speed	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement	63
Armament	1 × QF 12-pounder gun 2 × 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes

Two Spiteful class destroyers served with the Royal Navy. These ships were all built by Cammell Laird and were part of the group of boats known as the 'thirty knotters'.

Concern about the higher speeds of foreign boats had prompted to Admiralty to order new destroyers capable of 30 knots, rather than the 27 knot requirement which had been standard. The boats were not able to make this speed in bad weather, where they were usually wet and uncomfortable with cramped crew quarters, but they proved their toughness in serving through the Great War, despite being twenty years old. Thanks to their watertight bulkheads, their thin plating and light structure was able to take a great deal of damage and remain afloat, although their plates buckled easily affecting their handling.

The ships were fitted with Normand boilers which generated around 6,300 HP. They were armed with the standard twelve pounder and two torpedo tubes and carried a complement of 63 officers and men. Ships of this type bore four funnels and were designated B class destroyers. They were sold off after the end of hostilities.

Ships

• Spiteful, launched 11 January 1899, sold for breaking up 14 September 1920.
• Peterel, launched 30 March 1899, sold for breaking up 30 August 1919.

References

• Manning, T.D. The British Destroyer. Godfrey Cave Associates. ISBN 0-906223-13-X.