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HMSFame
Class overview
Builders	John I. Thornycroft & Company
Preceded by	A class "27-knotters"
Succeeded by	River class (E class)
Built	1895–1899
In commission	1896–1921
Completed	10
General characteristics
Type	Torpedo boat destroyer
Displacement	355 to 370 tons at full load
Length	210 ft (64 m)
Beam	19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
Draught	7 ft 8 in (2.34 m)
Propulsion	Triple expansion steam engines Coal-fired water-tube boilers 5,700 ihp (4,300 kW) (Stag, 5,800 ihp)
Speed	30knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Armament	1 ×QF 12-pounder 12 cwt gun 5 ×QF 6 pounder 8 cwt gun 2 ×18-inch (450-mm)torpedo tubes

TheD class as they were known from 1913 was a fairly homogeneous group oftorpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) built for theRoyal Navy in the mid-1890s. They were all constructed to the individual designs of their builder,John I. Thornycroft & Company ofChiswick, to meet Admiralty specifications. The uniting feature of the class was a top speed of 30knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) and they all had twofunnels.

In 1913 the nine surviving "30 knotter" vessels with two funnels (all ten had been built by Thornycroft, butAriel was lost before their renaming as D class) were retrospectively classified by theAdmiralty as the D class to provide some system to thenaming of HM destroyers. In the same way those with three funnels were classified as theC-class and those with four funnels as theB-class. All these vessels had a distinctive "turtleback"forecastle that was intended to clear water from thebow, but actually tended to dig the bow in to anything of a sea, resulting in a very wet conning position. They were better constructed than theirA-class forebears (the "26 knotter" and "27 knotter" groups), but still were poor seaboats unable to reach top speed in anything but perfect conditions.

They generally displaced 355 to 370 tons and had a length of 210 ft (64 m). All were powered bytriple expansion steam engines for 5,700indicated horsepower (4,300 kW) and hadcoal-firedwater-tube boilers, except for the final vessel (Stag) in which the engine power was slightly raised to 5,800 ihp (4,300 kW). Armament was oneQF 12-pounder gun on a bandstand on the forecastle, five QF 6-pounder guns (two sided abreast theconning tower, two sided between the funnels and one on thequarterdeck) and two single tubes for18-inch (450 mm) torpedoes.

Due to the successful development of their previous 26 and 27-knot torpedo boat destroyers, John I Thornycroft & Company developed their two funnel design for the 1894/1895 – 1897/1898 building programs. The ships were considered an incremental improvement to the previous 27-knot design of the 1893/94 program. This design would be used for all follow-on turtleback ships under the 30-knot specification. The 30-knot torpedo boat destroyers built by Thornycroft were referred to as two funnel – 30-knot ships and were not assigned a class name at the time.^[1]

They featured a large fore-bridge, mast halfway between bridge and fore funnel, turtleback cut-away bow, large round stern, both torpedo tubes oncenterline aft of second funnel and two funnels. They had a Thornycroft stern with the rudder not visible. They had dual rudders which made them very responsive to the helm.^[2][3]

All ten of the D class were built byThornycroft atChiswick, in four batches.

• First group (ordered 10 May 1895 under 1894–1895 programme);
  • Desperate
  • Fame
  • Foam
  • Mallard - ordered 30 Mayvice 10 May
• Second group (ordered 23 January 1896 under 1895–1896 programme) - identical with the preceding group;
  • Angler
  • Ariel
• Third group (ordered 21 April 1896 under 1896–1897 programme) - modified from the previous six vessels;^[4]
  • Coquette
  • Cygnet
  • Cynthia
• Last group (ordered 7 September 1897 under 1897–1898 programme) - with slightly enhanced engine power;
  • Stag

Notes: (a)Desperate had a final run over the measured mile on 4 September 1896. Altogether, this vessel completed nine successive preliminary trials.

• B-class destroyer (1913)
• C-class destroyer (1913)
• A sister-ship built for theImperial German Navy as flotilla leader for torpedo boats, calledTorpedo-Divisionsboot.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toD class destroyer (1913).

• Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969].Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing.ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.OCLC 67375475.
• Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J. J. (1972).British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan.ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
• Friedman, Norman (2009).British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.
• Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Lyon, David (2001) [1996].The First Destroyers. London: Caxton Editions.ISBN 1-84067-364-8.
• Manning, T. D. (1961).The British Destroyer. London: Putnam & Co.OCLC 6470051.
• March, Edgar J. (1966).British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service.OCLC 164893555.

• D-class destroyers (1913)
• Destroyer classes
• Ship classes of the Royal Navy

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