Sunfish-class destroyer

Class overview
HMS Ranger
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

↑ "Opossum Class British Destroyers". worldnavalships.com. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
↑ Lyon, The First Destroyers, p. 92
↑ 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sunfish class destroyer.

Sunfish-class destroyers

Sunfish Opossum Ranger

Preceded by: Handy class Followed by: Rocket class List of destroyer classes of the Royal Navy

A-class destroyer

"26-knotter" type	Daring class Havock class Ferret class

"27-knotter" type	Ardent class Charger class Hardy class Janus class Salmon class Banshee class Fervent class Conflict class Handy class Sunfish class Rocket class Sturgeon class Swordfish class Zebra class

Followed by: B class List of destroyer classes of the Royal Navy

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