HMS Earnest (1896)

History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Earnest
Builder: Laird, Son & Co., Birkenhead
Laid down: 2 March 1896
Launched: 7 November 1896
Completed: November 1897
Fate: Scrapped, 1920
General characteristics
Class and type: Earnest-class destroyer
Displacement: 395 long tons (401 t)
Length: 210 ft (64 m)
Beam: 21.5 ft (6.6 m)
Draught: 9.75 ft (3.0 m)
Propulsion:
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement: 63
Armament:

HMS Earnest was a B-class torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy, one of six to be built from the line.[1] She was completed by Laird, Son & Company, Birkenhead, in 1896, after 609 days of construction.[2] She was part of the new 30-knotters that were requested by the Admiralty, amid fears of foreign boats and their speeds the requirements were increased from 27 knots.

Design and construction

Earnest was ordered on 23 December 1896 as the first of six 30-knotter destroyers programmed to be built by Lairds under the 1895–1896 shipbuilding programme for the Royal Navy.[3] These followed on from four very similar destroyers ordered from Lairds as part of the 1894–1895 programme.[4]

Earnest was 218 feet (66.45 m) long overall and 213 feet (64.92 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 21 feet 6 inches (6.55 m) and a draught of 9 feet 9 inches (2.97 m). Displacement was 355 long tons (361 t) light and 415 long tons (422 t) full load. Like the other Laird-built 30-knotters, Locust was propelled by two triple expansion steam engines, fed by four Normand boilers, rated at 6,300 ihp (4,700 kW), and was fitted with four funnels.[4][5]

Armament was the standard for the 30-knotters, i.e. a QF 12 pounder 12 cwt (3 in (76 mm) calibre) gun on a platform on the ship's conning tower (in practice the platform was also used as the ship's bridge), with a secondary armament of five 6-pounder guns, and two 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.[6][7] The ship had a crew of 63 officers and men.[8]

Earnest was laid down at Laird's Birkenhead shipyard as Yard number 621 on 2 March 1896 and was launched on 7 November 1896.[3] Earnest reached 30.13 knots (55.80 km/h; 34.67 mph) during sea trials.[9] She was completed in November 1897.[3]

Service

In 1897 Earnest was in reserve at Devonport.[10] She was transferred to the Mediterranean Squadron in September 1898,[3] and was in August 1901 recommissioned at Malta as tender to the battleship HMS Caesar.[11] Lieutenant Philip Agnew Bateman-Champain was in command from November 1901. She visited Greek waters (including Nauplia) in September 1902.[12] Earnest returned to Home waters in 1907.[3]


References

  1. ↑ "Earnest Class". www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  2. ↑ "HMS Earnest". navalhistory.flixco.info. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Lyon 2001, p. 62
  4. 1 2 Lyon 2001, pp. 61–62
  5. ↑ Chesneau & Kolesnik 1979, p. 94
  6. ↑ Lyon 2001, pp. 98–99
  7. ↑ Friedman 2009, p. 40
  8. ↑ Manning 1961, p. 40
  9. ↑ Brassey 1902, p. 275
  10. ↑ "Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Devonport Dockyard". The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect. 1 October 1897. p. 264.
  11. ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36533). London. 14 August 1901. p. 4.
  12. ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36893). London. 8 October 1902. p. 4.
  • Brassey, T.A. (1902). The Naval Annual 1902. Portsmouth, UK: J. Griffin and Co.
  • 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.
  • 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 (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Lyon, David (2001). The First Destroyers. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-3648.
  • Manning, T.D. (1961). The British Destroyer. London: Putnam.


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