HMS Lightning (1877)
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 HMS Lightning - illustration from Scientific American. |
|
| Career (United Kingdom) |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | John I. Thornycroft & Company |
| Launched: | 1876 |
| Renamed: | Torpedo Boat No. 1 |
| Fate: | Scrapped, 1896 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Torpedo boat |
| Displacement: | 32.5 long tons (33.0 MT) |
| Length: | 87 feet 6 inches (26.7 m) |
| Beam: | 10 feet 9 inches (3.3 m) |
| Draught: | 5 feet 2 inches (1.6 m) |
| Propulsion: | Two-cylinder compound steam engine, 460 hp. |
| Speed: | 18.5 knots (21.3 mph) |
| Armament: | 2 x 14 inch Whitehead torpedos (later reduced to one) |
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Lightning.
HMS Lightning was a torpedo boat, built by John Thornycroft for the Royal Navy, which entered service in 1876 and was the first seagoing vessel to be armed with self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. She was later renamed Torpedo Boat No. 1.
As originally built, Lightning had two frames carrying torpedoes on either side, that could be lowered into the water to release the torpedoes, but they appeared impractical and in 1879 were replaced by a single torpedo tube mounted on the bow. She carried also two reload torpedoes amidships.
The Lightning spent her life as a tender to the torpedo school HMS Vernon at Portsmouth and was used for some experiments. She was broken up in 1896.
[edit] Sources
- Chesneau, Roger and Eugène Kolesnik, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1979, ISBN 0-85177-133-5
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