Mermaid-class destroyer
_underway_at_Portland.jpg) The visually identical Greyhound underway in 1906 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Mermaid class |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy |
| Built: | 1896–1898 |
| In commission: | 1897–1919 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Lost: | 1 |
| Scrapped: | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Destroyer |
| Displacement: | 385 long tons (391 t) light 430 long tons (437 t) full load |
| Length: | 214 ft 6 in (65.38 m) overall |
| Beam: | 21 ft 1 in (6.43 m) |
| Draught: | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shaft reciprocating engines 4 Thornycroft boilers[1] 6,100 shp (4,549 kW) |
| Speed: | 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
| Complement: | 62 |
| Armament: | • 1 × QF 12 pounder 12 cwt gun • 2 × 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes (2×1) |
Two Mermaid-class destroyers served with the Royal Navy during the First World War.[2] They were three-funnelled turtle-backed destroyers with the usual Hawthorn funnel tops. Built in 1896–1898, Mermaid and Cheerful were launched by R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Company from their Hebburn-on-Tyne shipyard.
Their Thornycroft boilers produced 6,100 hp to given them the required 30 knots (56 km/h) and they were armed with the standard 12-pounder gun and two torpedo tubes. They carried a complement of 63 officers and men. In 1913 the pair - like all other surviving three-funnelled destroyers of the "30-knotter" group - were reclassed as C-class destroyers. The almost identical Greyhound class ships built subsequently at the same yard differed only by having Yarrow boilers.
References
- ↑ Lyon, The First Destroyers, p. 93
- ↑ "Mermaid-class at BattleshipsCruisers.co.uk". Retrieved 2009-04-02.
- Lyon, David (2001) [1996]. The First Destroyers. Shipshape monographs. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-364-8.
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