B-class destroyer (1913)


The B class as designated in 1913 was a heterogeneous group of torpedo boat destroyers built for the Royal Navy in the late 1890s. They were constructed to the individual designs of their builders to meet Admiralty specifications, the uniting feature being a specified top speed of and four funnels, although the funnel spacings differed between ships. All "30 knotter" vessels with four funnels were classified by the Admiralty as the B class in 1913 to provide some system to the naming of HM destroyers.
Fourteen vessels were built by Laird Brothers at Birkenhead, seven by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Hebburn-on-Tyne, and one each by Armstrong Whitworth at Walker-on-Tyne, William Doxford and Sons at Sunderland, and J & G Thomson at Clydebank. All vessels had a distinctive "turtleback" forecastle that was intended to clear water from the bow, but actually tended to dig the bow into anything of a sea, resulting in a very wet conning position.
They generally displaced around 350 tons, one third more than the preceding, giving an increase in speed of over the "27 knotters". Length was around. All were powered by triple expansion steam engines and had coal-fired water-tube boilers. However, Albacore, Arab, Bonetta, Cobra and Express were builder's specials, and had steam turbines fitted in addition to, or in lieu of, the reciprocating engines, giving to for. Armament was one QF 12-pounder gun on a raised platform at the rear of the forecastle, five QF 6-pounder guns and 2 single torpedo tubes for 18-inch torpedoes.
The last two Palmers boats, built in 1908, were replacements for the Gala and the C-class Tiger that had collided and sunk that year. They were generally similar to the River design, but were grouped with the B class as they possessed four funnels and were similarly armed, and made on turbines.

Ships