HMS Ardent (1894)

Ardent
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Ardent
Builder: Thornycroft, Chiswick
Laid down: December 1893
Launched: 16 October 1894
Commissioned: 30 April 1895
Motto: Death rather than disgrace
Fate: Sold for breaking 10 October 1911
General characteristics
Class and type: Thornycroft 27 knot - 2 funnel destroyer
Displacement: 265 tons (1901)
Length: 201 ft 8 in (61.47 m)
Beam: 19 ft (5.8 m)
Draught: 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m)
Installed power: 4,300 ihp (forced draught)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × Thornycroft vertical triple-expansion steam engines
  • 4 × Thornycroft coal-fired water-tube boilers
  • 2 × shafts
Speed: 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Endurance:
  • 60 tons of coal
  • 1,750 nm at 13 knots
Complement: 53 officers and men
Armament:

HMS Ardent was a Royal Navy 27 knot torpedo boat destroyer ordered from John I Thornycroft & Company under the 1893 – 1894 Naval Estimates. She was the sixth ship to carry this name.[1]

Construction

Ardent was laid down in December 1893 at the Thornycroft shipyard at Church Wharf, Chiswick and launched on 16 October 1894 by Mrs C.T. Cornish, the daughter of the company founder John Isaac Thornycroft.[2][3] During her builder’s trials at Maplin Sound on 9 November 1894 the ship achieved an average speed of 29.182 knots on her full power run. Her boiler pressure was 210 pounds per square inch with shafts turning at an average of 407 revolutions per minute.[4] Upon completion of trials she proceeded to Portsmouth to have her armament fitted. During her acceptance trials and workups her average sea speed was 23 knots.

Service history

The torpedo boat destroyer was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 30 April 1895 at Portsmouth under the command of Lieutenant & Commander Godfrey H B Mundy for service on the Mediterranean Station based at Malta.[5] Ardent departed Portsmouth on 14 May 1895, stopping at Plymouth to join the third-class cruiser HMS Pique. They departed for Malta on 15 May 1895.[6] Upon her arrival she became tender to the fleet flagship, the battleship Ramillies. Among Ardent′s duties was the training of stokers in the management of water-tube boilers.[3]

On 31 March 1901, Ardent was listed as being at Malta for the British Empire census. In April 1902 she was on tactical and gunnery exercises with the Mediterranean Fleet,[7] and in September that year she was part of a squadron visiting Nauplia and Souda Bay at Crete.[8] On 17 April 1906, HM Torpedo Boat 56 sank after colliding with Ardent in the Mediterranean Sea.[9][10]

Disposal

Upon her return to home waters in early 1911, Ardent was paid off into reserve. She was listed on the July 1911 (Quarterly) Navy List as being for sale.[11] Ardent was sold on 10 October 1911 for breaking,[1] raising a price of £1400.[12]

Commanding officersDate of appointment
Lieutenant & Commander Godfrey Mundy30 April 1895[5]
Lieutenant & Commander Laurence Richardson1 November 1899[13]
Lieutenant & Commander Morris Cochrane10 April 1905[14]
Lieutenant & Commander Arthur Stancomb14 July 1906[15]
Lieutenant & Commander Berwick Curtis28 August 1909[16]


Citations

  1. 1 2 J.J. Colledge, Revised and Updated by Lt Cdr Ben Warlow (2010). Ships of the Royal Navy. Philadelphia & Newbury: Casemate. p. Section A. ISBN 978-1-61200-0275.
  2. ↑ The Times (London). 17 October 1894. p. Column B, page 10.
  3. 1 2 "HMS Ardent Association Online". hmsardent.org.uk. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  4. ↑ The Times (London), Issue 34418. 10 November 1894. p. Column E, page 10.
  5. 1 2 The Times (London), Issue 34565. 1 May 1895. p. Column D, page 10.
  6. ↑ The Times (London), Issue 34578. 16 May 1895. p. Column F, page 5.
  7. ↑ The Times (London), Issue 36744. 17 April 1902. p. 7.
  8. ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36883). London. 26 September 1902. p. 8.
  9. ↑ Colledge, J. J., and Ben Warlow, Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present, Philadelphia: Casemate, 2010, p. 410.. ISBN 978-1-935149-07-1
  10. ↑ Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Conway′s All the World′s Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, New York: Mayflower Books, 1979, ISBN 0-8317-0302-4, p. 104.]
  11. ↑ July 1911 (Quarterly) Navy List. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office. July 1911. p. 409.
  12. ↑ "Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Portsmouth Dockyard". The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect. Vol. 34. November 1911. p. 109.
  13. ↑ March 1901 (Monthly) Navy List. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office. March 1901. p. Item 36 Ardent, page 225.
  14. ↑ December 1905 (Monthly) Navy List. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office. December 1905. p. Item 36 Ardent, page 270.
  15. ↑ January 1907 (Quarterly) Navy List. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office. January 1907. p. Item 36 Ardent, page 279.
  16. ↑ April 1910 (Quarterly) Navy List. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office. April 1910. p. Item 36 Ardent, page 279.

References

  • Jane’s Fighting Ships 1905/06, first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1905, Reprinted ARCO Publishing Company, New York, 1969, Library of Congress No: 69-14519, ARCO # 668-02269-8, p. 78
  • Jane’s All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1898, first published by Sampson Low Marston 1898, Republished by David and Charles (Publishers), 1969, 7153 4476 5, pp 84–85
  • Illustrated Guide to the Royal Navy and Foreign Navies, Fred T.W. Gibbs, 2nd Edition edited and revised by E.W.C. Gibbs, Waterlow Brothers & Layton Ltd, London – 1896, p. 102
  • The British Navy – Past and Present, Rear-Admiral S. Eardly-Wilmont, Second Edition 1904, The Navy League, London, pp 99–101
  • The Royal Navy, by H. Lawrence Swinburne, illustrated by Norman L. Wilkinson, published by Adams & Charles Black, London, 1907, pp 302–303 & 312-314
  • Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1860 to 1906, edited by Roger Chesneau & Eugene M. Kolesnik, published by Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979, ISBN 0 85177 133 5, p. 91
  • Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1906 to 1921, edited by Robert Gardner & Randal Gray, published by Conway Maritime Press (1985), reprinted 2006, ISBN 0 85177 245 5, ISBN 9 780851 772455, pp 17–19
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
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