Sunfish-class destroyer

HMS Ranger
Class overview
Name:	Sunfish class
Builders:	Hawthorn Leslie, Hebburn
Operators:	Royal Navy
Preceded by:	Handy class
Succeeded by:	Rocket class
Built:	1894–1896
In commission:	1896–1920
Completed:	3
Scrapped:	3
General characteristics
Type:	Torpedo boat destroyer
Propulsion:	8× Yarrow boilers, 4,000 hp (2,983 kW)
Speed:	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Complement:	53
Armament:	1 × 12 pounder gun 2 × torpedo tubes

The Sunfish-class destroyers, also referred to as Opossum-class destroyers,^[1] was a group of three torpedo boat destroyers which served with the Royal Navy from the 1890s to the 1920s. They were all built by the Hebburn-on-Tyne shipyard of Hawthorn Leslie.

Design

Powered by 8 Yarrow boilers,^[2] this was the same 8 boiler configuration originally used on HMS Hornet.^[3] The ships produced 4,000 hp (3,000 kW) and could make 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph). They were armed with one twelve pounder gun and two torpedo tubes and carried a complement of 53 officers and men.

History

Ordered under the 1893-94 Programme, the contract was placed on 7 February 1894. All three "turtle-back" destroyers were laid down in 1894, launched in 1895 and completed in 1896.

In 1912 all three, like the other surviving 27-knotter destroyers, were re-classed as A-class destroyers. They served in Home waters throughout the First World War, and all three were sold for breaking up in 1920.

Ships in class

• HMS Sunfish
• HMS Opossum
• HMS Ranger

References

Notes

1. "Opossum Class British Destroyers". worldnavalships.com. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
2. Lyon, The First Destroyers, p. 92
3. Lyon, The First Destroyers, p. 54

Bibliography

• Lyon, David (2001) [1996]. The First Destroyers. Shipshape monographs. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-364-8.
• Manning, Captain T.D. The British Destroyer. Godfrey Cave Associates. ISBN 0-906223-13-X.

External links