This is a list of torpedo boat classes of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, organised chronologically by entry into service. This article's coverage is restricted to the steam-powered torpedo boats built for or acquired by the British Navy between 1876 (the date on which the Admiralty ordered the first torpedo boat to carry the self-propelled Whitehead torpedo) and 1905; the final batch of 36 steam-turbine-powered torpedo boats from 1906 to 1908 were originally rated as coastal destroyers and will be found under Cricket-class destroyers, while later torpedo boats introduced during World War 1, powered by internal combustion engines, will be found under Motor Torpedo Boats.
Ever since the first use of spar torpedoes in the American Civil War and the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), the world's sea powers continued to refine the small torpedo craft concept to employ the new automobile torpedoes (Whitehead torpedoes) that could continue the legacy of small and relatively inexpensive vessels able to challenge much larger vessels. The Royal Navy purchased 1st and 2nd class torpedo boats for offensive and defensive combat roles, respectively.
Later – especially to counter the French automobile defense – the British Navy primarily ordered torpedo boat catchers (or torpedo gunboats), which proved too slow for the task of dealing with torpedo boats, and subsequently torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) - or destroyers as they soon became called.
1st class torpedo boats
First class torpedo boats were designed for independent inshore operations. They were small, but large enough to patrol coastal waters and enjoy some limited endurance beyond their supporting port or tender. Nevertheless, they were found to be deployed overseas - notably to the Mediterranean - and eventually worldwide.
Lightning-design
John I. Thornycroft & Company, Chiswick. The first torpedo boat, TB.1 (originally called Lightning), was ordered on 26 January 1876 and underwent trials on 22 May 1877; her dimensions were slightly different from her successors (TB.2 - TB.12) which were all ordered on 3 October 1877 and notably deleted the coach roof of the prototype.
TB.21 – not accepted from RN because of lack of performance; the number was thus re-used for the first of the 113-footer group.
113-Footers
On 10 December 1883 the Admiralty wrote both to John I. Thornycroft & Company and to Yarrow & Company asking them to tender for one or more improved First Class torpedo boats.
TB.21 class
on 21 December 1883 Thornycroft replied forwarding their design HO 1992 and the specification in accordance with the Admiralty's letter. The dimensions were similar to those of the Sookhoun (Yard number 167, built 1882 for the Imperial Russian Navy) and the Childers (Yard number 172, built 1882 for the Victorian Government in Australia). Two boats were ordered by the Admiralty on 19 January 1884 for delivery in 9 and 10 months respectively. They ran trials on 30 April and 25 May 1885 respectively.
Number
Builder
Yard No.
Launched
Disposal
TB.21
Thornycroft
201
18 March 1885
Sold for scrap in 1907 at Malta
TB.22
Thornycroft
202
5 May 1885
Sold for scrap in 1907 at Malta
TB.23 class
The Admiralty similarly placed orders with Yarrow for two boats (built at Poplar).
Number
Builder
Yard No.
Launched
Disposal
TB.23
Yarrow
666
1886
Sold for scrap in 1905
TB.24
Yarrow
667
1886
Sold for scrap in 1904
125-Footers
All 53 boats of this group (TB.25 to TB.79, excluding TB.39 and TB.40) carried 5 x 14-in torpedo tubes (one bow tube plus two pairs of deck tubes) and a complement of 16. Alternatively they could carry a gun armament of two 3-pounders and four MGs in lieu of the deck tubes. The bow tubes were later removed.
These four boats were ordered on 30/31 March 1885.
Number
Builder
Yard No.
Completed
Disposal
TB.30
Yarrow
708
1886
Sold for scrap ca. 1905
TB.31
Yarrow
709
1886
Sold for scrap 1913
TB.32
Yarrow
710
1886
Sold for scrap ca. 1905
TB.33
Yarrow
711
1886
Sold for scrap 1 August 1919
TB.34 class
J. Samuel White (1885–87). Based on White's TB.19 with "turnabout" stern but enlarged and built with more beam than the Thornycroft and Yarrow boats. All five took part in the 1887 Naval Review. TB.34 spent all her life in Home waters, but TB.35 and TB.36 sailed in March 1888 for the China Station, followed later by TB.37 and TB.38; these four spent all their lives on this station and were eventually sold together at Hong Kong in 1919.
Yarrow & Company, Limited. These two boats of 40 tons each were ordered for the Chilean Navy as Glaura and Fresia, but were purchased by the British Navy in 1888 and deployed to the West coast of Canada.
Wrecked 27 December 1915 in Mediterranean, but salved and sold for scrap 1920
TB.47
Thornycroft
228
28 June 1886
Sold for scrap ca. 1908
TB.48
Thornycroft
229
1886
Sold for scrap ca. 1915
TB.49
Thornycroft
230
1886
Sold for scrap 1 August 1919
TB.50
Thornycroft
231
17 June 1886
Sold for scrap 23 February 1920
TB.51
Thornycroft
232
30 July 1886
Sold for scrap ca. 1913
TB.52
Thornycroft
233
1886
Sold for scrap 19 December 1919
TB.53
Thornycroft
234
16 August 1886
Sold for scrap 1913
TB.54
Thornycroft
235
28 August 1886
Sold for scrap 1 August 1919
TB.55
Thornycroft
236
29 August 1886
Sold for scrap 23 February 1920
TB.56
Thornycroft
237
1 October 1886
Foundered off Damietta 17 May 1906
TB.57
Thornycroft
238
2 October 1886
Sold for scrap 2 October 1919
TB.58
Thornycroft
239
18 October 1886
Sold for scrap 19 December 1919
TB.59
Thornycroft
240
11 November 1886
Sold for scrap ca. 1913
TB.60
Thornycroft
241
10 December 1886
Sold for scrap at Cape Town 1 July 1919
TB.61 class
This batch was ordered on 30 April or 1 May 1885, one month after the TB.30 to TB.33 batch with which they were identical. The last two (TB.79 and TB.80) differed in detail and in dimensions; the 75-ton TB.79 was 128ft 8in in oa length; the 105-ton TB.80 was 134ft 9in bp by 14ft beam.
Sold for scrap 27 March 1920, then re-sold 22 October 1921.
TB.86
Yarrow
803
September 1889
Sold for scrap 27 March 1920, then re-sold 22 October 1921.
TB.87
Yarrow
805
September 1889
Sold for scrap 27 March 1920.
140-Footers
Ten "140-footer" were ordered to four different builders' designs under the 1892-93 Programme. They were built in the same period as the first of the 26-knotter TBDs (torpedo boat destroyers) which rapidly superseded the traditional torpedo boat, and like them carried the new 18-in torpedoes, which marked a step-change both in size and capability. All these vessels were quickly deployed to the Mediterranean and stayed there throughout the rest of their service lives, based primarily on Gibraltar.
TB.88 class
Number
Builder
Yard No.
Completed
Disposal
TB.88
Yarrow
1894
Sold for scrap 13 October 1919
TB.89
Yarrow
1894
Sold for scrap 13 October 1919
TB.90
Yarrow
1894
Capsized 25 April 1918 in heavy weather off Gibraltar
TB.91 class
These three boats were ordered from John I. Thornycroft & Company on 4 July 1892, exactly one week after the orders were placed for Thornycroft's Daring and Decoy torpedo-boat destroyers, and thus followed them in sequence of Yard numbers.
Number
Builder
Yard No.
Completed
Disposal
TB.91
Thornycroft
289
1894
Sold for scrap 13 October 1919
TB.92
Thornycroft
290
1894
Sold for scrap 1920 at Gibraltar
TB.93
Thornycroft
291
1894
Sold for scrap 13 October 1919
TB.94 class
J. Samuel White
Number
Builder
Yard No.
Launched
Disposal
TB.94
White
910
27 July 1893
Sold for scrap 13 October 1919
TB.95
White
911
1894 comp.
Sold for scrap 13 October 1919
TB.96
White
912
1894 comp.
Sunk in collision 1 November 1919 with s.s. Tringa off Gibraltar
These four boats, discontinuously numbered because the seven boats built for the Royal Indian Marine in 1892 were given the numbers 100 to 106, were built by Thornycroft at Chiswick to a common design. The first two (Yard numbers 346 and 347) were ordered on 21 November 1899 under the 1899-1900 Programme and were completed in July 1902. The later pair (Yard numbers 351 and 352) were ordered on 25 April 1900 under the 1900-1901 Programme and were completed in September 1902.
Five more Thornycroft boats were built under the 1901-02 Programme to a different design, about 7% greater in displacement and being four feet longer than the TB.98 boats. The first four of these boats were ordered from Thornycroft on 11 November 1901, and the fifth on 14 December 1901. Their yard numbers were 359 to 363 respectively.
The remaining four boats, similar in scale to the TB.109 models, were constructed by J. Samuel White at Cowes, and were all commissioned on 3 January 1905.
No further 1st Class torpedo boats were ordered until 1905, when twelve new vessels were projected to meet the needs for coastal defence. Such new torpedo boats were proposed in December 1904 to be vessels not exceeding 165ft in length and 250 tons, carrying two 12-pounder guns and three torpedo tubes, and capable of 26 knots for 8 hours with an endurance of 1,000 nautical miles at 15 knots. Such criteria would have closely paralleled the original 27-knotter torpedo-boat destroyers of 1893-4, although the new type were to have steam turbines and oil fuel, and so the new ships were quickly re-designated as 'coastal destroyers'. Thornycroft, Yarrow and White were invited to tender, and each produced plans for a three-shaft propulsion with an astern turbine on the centre shaft; each project was larger than first required, being between 175ft and 180ft in length.
These twelve coastal destroyers, given names rather than simply numbers, were ordered under the 1905-06 Programme to the three builders' own designs. In October 1906 these were re-classified as torpedo boats and their original names were replaced by the numbers TB.1 to TB.12. To avoid confusion with the surviving early 1st Class torpedo boats, those survivors bearing numbers up to TB.79 inclusive were renumbered to include a "0" before the number (e.g. TB.79 became TB.079). Twelve more of these new torpedo boats were ordered in the 1906-07 Programme, to enlarged designs, and a final twelve in the 1907-08 Programme; these were numbered TB.13 to TB.36.
2nd class torpedo boats
2nd Class torpedo boat, with the TB depot ship HMS Hecla in the background
These 74 small (generally 60ft to 66ft in length) torpedo boats were to be carried on larger ships or given to dedicated torpedo boat carriers, such as HMS Vulcan and HMS Hecla. With a single (US-built) exception, all were constructed by Thornycroft at Chiswick (45 boats), by Yarrow at Poplar (16 boats) or by White at Cowes (12 boats, with wooden hulls). These boats were designed as harbour defence and coastal boats, but their small size meant their endurance and sea-keeping abilities would be quite modest. Note that their numbering was in a separate sequence from that of the 1st Class boats. Similar boats were built for the naval services of New Zealand (4 boats) and the Australian colonies of Victoria (3 boats), Queensland (2 boats), and Tasmania (1 boat); all of these were built by Thornycroft.
Thornycroft 2nd class orders 1877
John I. Thornycroft & Company. 60ft Length overall, and 10.75 tons. Ordered 3 October 1877, completed 1878 (first six) and 1879 (last six). The first four were attached to HMS Hecla after their completion.[9]
Number
Builder
Yard number
Launched
Disposal
TB.51
Thornycroft
82
October 1878
Sold for scrap 1907
TB.52
Thornycroft
83
October 1878
Sold for scrap 1904
TB.53
Thornycroft
84
September 1878
Sold for scrap 1904
TB.54
Thornycroft
85
October 1878
Sold for scrap 1904
TB.55
Thornycroft
86
December 1878
Sold for scrap 1902
TB.56
Thornycroft
87
December 1878
Sold for scrap 1904
TB.57
Thornycroft
88
June 1879
Sold for scrap 1904
TB.58
Thornycroft
89
February 1879
Sold for scrap 1902
TB.59
Thornycroft
90
February 1879
Sold for scrap 1902
TB.60
Thornycroft
91
June 1879
Sold for scrap 1902
TB.61
Thornycroft
92
September 1879
Sold for scrap 1902
TB.62
Thornycroft
93
September 1879
Foundered in North America 21 October 1890, in tow of HMS Buzzard
John I. Thornycroft & Company. An improvement on the previous batch, being 62ft 10in in length and 13 tons. Ordered 27 May 1879 or 11 July 1879, completed 1880 (first two) and 1881-82 (other eight).[10]
John I. Thornycroft & Company. Ordered 28 February 1880 (contract 3 March 1880). The first two (TB.76 and TB.77) differed from the others by being fitted experimentally with the Herreschoff spiral water tube boiler (first seen in Royal Navy service with 2nd Class TB.63 built by Herreschoff).
The first nine were ordered in 1883, another two in 1887, and the last in 1888. Unlike the Thornycroft and Yarrow boats, they were wooden-hulled and were precursors of the 56ft steam pinnaces which superseded the Second Class steel boats (in a multi-role function).[17]
^Winfield & Lyon, The Sail and Steam Navy List (2004), p.315.
^Winfield & Lyon, The Sail and Steam Navy List (2004), p.315.
Bibliography
Brown, Les (2023). Royal Navy Torpedo Vessels. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-3990-2285-9.
Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben & Bush, Steve (2020). Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (5th revised and updated ed.). Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-5267-9327-0.
Dittmar, F.J. and Colledge, J.J. British Warships 1914–1919. London: Ian Allan, 1972. ISBN0-7110-0380-7.
Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN978-1-59114-081-8.