A watercolour of Sturgeon c. 1901
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Sturgeon |
Builder | Vickers |
Launched | 21 July 1894 |
Fate | Sold, 1910 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Sturgeon-class destroyer |
Propulsion | Blechynden boilers, 4,000 hp (2,983 kW) |
Speed | 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph) |
Complement | 53 |
Armament |
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HMS Sturgeon was the lead ship of the Sturgeon-class destroyers which served with the Royal Navy. Built by Vickers, she was launched in 1894 and sold in 1910.
On 8 November 1893, the British Admiralty placed an order with the Naval Construction and Armament Company of Barrow-in-Furness (later to become part of Vickers) for three "Twenty-Seven Knotter" destroyers as part of the 1893–1894 construction programme for the Royal Navy, [1] with in total, 36 destroyers being ordered from various shipbuilders for this programme. [2]
The Admiralty only laid down a series of broad requirements for the destroyers, leaving detailed design to the ships' builders. The requirements included a trial speed of 27 knots (31 mph; 50 km/h), a "turtleback" forecastle and a standard armament of 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. [3] [4] [5]
The Naval Construction and Armament Company produced a design with a length of 194 feet 6 inches (59.28 m) overall and 190 feet (57.91 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 19 feet (5.79 m) and a draught of 7 feet 7 inches (2.31 m). Displacement was 300 long tons (300 t) light and 340 long tons (350 t) deep load. [1] Three funnels were fitted, with the foremast between the ship's bridge and the first funnel. [6] [7] Four Blechyndnen water-tube boilers fed steam at 200 pounds per square inch (1,400 kPa) to two three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines rated at 4,000 indicated horsepower (3,000 kW). [1] [8] A speed of 27.6 knots (51.1 km/h; 31.8 mph) was reached during sea trials. [9] 60 tons of coal were carried, [10] giving a range of 1,370 nautical miles (2,540 km; 1,580 mi) at a speed of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph). [11] The ship's crew was 53 officers and men. [11]
Sturgeon served in home waters for the whole of her career. [1] She took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 26 June 1897 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. [12] From 1899 she served in the Medway Instructional Flotilla under Commander Murray MacGregor Lockhart, but in March 1900 she was replaced by HMS Cynthia to which Commander Lockhart also transferred. [13] She left this for other service in late 1900. The following year she again took up with the Medway instructional flotilla, replacing Mallard. [14] She had a refit in early 1902. [15] In May 1902 she received the officers and men from the destroyer Stag, and was again commissioned at Chatham on 8 May by Lieutenant John Maxwell D. E. Warren for service with the Flotilla. [16] [17] She took part in the Spithead fleet review held on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII, [18] and later the same month was placed in dockyard hands at Sheerness for her boiler to be re-tubed. [19]