H.M. T.B. 20 (1880)
H.M. T.B. 20 (1880) | |
---|---|
Builder: | Rennie[1] |
Ordered: | 8 May, 1878[2] (see text) |
Launched: | 1880[3] |
Completed: | Purchased 25 May, 1880[4] |
Broken up: | 1903[5] |
H.M. T.B. 20 was one of 19 first-class torpedo boats of the T.B. 1 class.
Construction
A Lightning-type torpedo boat was ordered from Rennie on 8 May, 1878, however the resulting vessel proved unsatisfactory and was rejected by the Royal Navy. T.B. 20 was built in 1880 as a replacement, and the original Rennie boat was sold abroad. She proved slow, reaching barely better than 16¾ knots during her trials.[6][7]
Service
In 1881, there were twenty first-class torpedo boats in all. T.B. 20 was partly fitted for Whitehead torpedoes, and was one of eleven boats serving out of Portsmouth.[8] Some time afterwards T.B. 20 was sent out to Hong Kong, where she would spend the rest of her career, possibly on account of her disappointing performance.[9]
Already slow when new, her speed dropped considerably over the course of her career, and by 1894 she could only make 11 knots with difficulty.[10] Nevertheless she was listed as one of six first-class torpedo boats stationed at Hong Kong in 1895.[11]
In July, 1904, complaints from Vice-Admiral Noel of the China Station about the condition of his T.B.s and T.B.D.s prompted a review of his assets by First Lord of the Admiralty Selborne. Within, it was noted that T.B. 20 was simply "non-effective".[12] Selborne apparently did not know that T.B. 20 had been sold for scrapping at Hong Kong the year before, although it is possible that the later sources are in error.[13][14][15]
Captains
Dates of appointment are provided when known.
- Lieutenant & Commander Cecil E. Rooke, May, 1894[16] – mid 1894 (loaned for exercise from Rattler)
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 102.
- ↑ Lyon; Winfield. The Steam & Sail List. p. 309.
- ↑ Lyon; Winfield. The Steam & Sail List. p. 309.
- ↑ Lyon; Winfield. The Steam & Sail List. p. 309.
- ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 102.
- ↑ Brown. Steam Torpedo Boats. p. 78.
- ↑ Lyon; Winfield. The Steam & Sail List. p. 309.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1881. p. 35.
- ↑ Lyon; Winfield. The Steam & Sail List. p. 309.
- ↑ Brown. Steam Torpedo Boats. p. 78.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1895. p. 62.
- ↑ Letter from Selborne to Noel dated 15 July 1904 contained in Noel Papers at the National Maritime Museum. (NOE/5/2).
- ↑ Brown. Steam Torpedo Boats. p. 78.
- ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 102.
- ↑ Lyon; Winfield. The Steam & Sail List. p. 309.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1894. p. 196.
Bibliography
- Brown, David K. (2005). Jordan, John. ed. "Steam Torpedo Boats of the Royal Navy". Warship 2005: pp. 73-96.
- Chesneau, Robert; Kolesnik, Eugene (editors) (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
- Lyon, David; Winfield, Rif (2004). The Sail & Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy, 1815-1889. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1861760329. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
T.B. 1 Class First-class Torpedo Boat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lightning | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
T.B. 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thornycroft Repeat Lightnings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
T.B. 2 | T.B. 3 | T.B. 4 | T.B. 5 | T.B. 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
T.B. 7 | T.B. 8 | T.B. 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
T.B. 10 | T.B. 11 | T.B. 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other Builders | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
T.B. 13 | T.B. 14 | T.B. 15 | T.B. 17 | T.B. 18 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
T.B. 19 | T.B. 20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Torpedo Boats (UK) | H.M. T.B. 63 | –> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
First-class Torpedo Boats (UK) | T.B. 39 Class | –> |