Spiteful class destroyer
Encyclopedia
Two Spiteful class destroyers served with the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. These ships were all built by Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...
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
B class destroyer (1913)
The B class as designated in 1913 was a heterogeneous group of torpedo boat destroyers built for the Royal Navy in the late 1890s. They were constructed to the individual designs of their builders to meet Admiralty specifications, the uniting feature being a specified top speed of and 4 funnels,...
. They were sold off after the end of hostilities.