HMS Eden, an early River-class destroyer, was unusual in being driven by steam turbines.
Class overview
NameRiver or E class
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded by
Succeeded byTribal or F class
Built1903–1905
In commission1903–1920
Completed36
Lost8
General characteristics
TypeDestroyer
Displacement535 long tons (544 t) to 570 long tons (580 t)[1]
Length221 ft (67 m) to 233 ft (71 m) (overall)[1]
Beam23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) to 23 ft 10.5 in (7.277 m)[1]
Draught7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)to 8 ft 0.5 in (2.451 m)[1]
Propulsion
  • 2 vertical triple expansion steam engines
  • 2 shafts
  • Except Eden, Stour and Test:
  • 2 Parsons steam turbines
  • 2 shafts
  • 7,000 ihp (5,200 kW) to 7,700 ihp (5,700 kW)[1]
Speed25.5 knots (29.3 mph; 47.2 km/h)[1]
Range1,620 nmi (3,000 km) to 1,870 nmi (3,460 km) at 11 kn, except Stour and Test, 3,000 nmi (5,556 km) at 13 kn.[1]
Complement70[1]
Armament

The River-class destroyer (re-designated in 1913 as the E class) was a class of torpedo boat destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the first few years of the 20th century, and which saw extensive service in World War I. These 37 vessels (33 formally ordered under three annual construction programmes, plus another three built on speculation and then purchased by the Admiralty, and a final unit building in Italy for the Portuguese Navy and purchased in 1915) were all constructed to disparate builders' designs, just like the preceding classes.

The class introduced new features to destroyer design, placing a greater emphasis on seakeeping and endurance and less on a high maximum speed in good weather. All the ships were named after British, Irish and Portuguese rivers, and as such were the first Royal Navy destroyer class to be named systematically.

Genesis

The concept for the River class began in December 1900, with a request from Commander John Michael de Robeck, then the senior destroyer officer in the Mediterranean Fleet, for a new class of destroyer with a longer range and better sea-keeping qualities than the existing "27-knotter" class (the survivors of which would be redesignated the A-class in 1913) and "30-knotter" class (redesignated the B, C and, D classes in 1913). De Robeck's specification called for a range of 1,650 nmi (3,056 km) at a sustained speed of 18 knots (33 km/h); the "30-knotter" could only make 1,400 nmi (2,593 km) at its cruising speed of 13 knots (24 km/h).[2]

De Robeck also called for various modifications to destroyer design to help make ships more seaworthy, in particular keeping up their speed in adverse weather conditions. The most noticeable change would be to introduce a raised forecastle rather than an arched turtleback[lower-alpha 1] for the hull forward of the bridge, and that the bridge should be placed further aft to keep it clear of spray from waves breaking over the bow. Furthermore, he felt that destroyers should run their speed trials with a more realistic load of fuel and supplies. The "30-knotter" type might have a nominal speed of 30 knots, but even in very good weather this was never achieved in service.[4]

Other officers serving on Royal Navy destroyers made similar observations about their ships. John de Robeck's commanding officer, Vice-Admiral "Jackie" Fisher, drew a comparison with the German S90-class torpedo boat, which had impressed Royal Navy officers who had seen it.[5]

In July 1901 the Director of Naval Construction worked on sketch designs for future destroyers, which included many of the features de Robeck and his colleagues advocated, as well as a heavier and more reliable kind of engine. The trials speed was initially 27 knots (50 km/h), though further requirements for increased strength reduced the speed to 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h). While this speed seemed like a significant reduction, it would be measured with a realistic 95 tons of coal loaded on board, and the better sea-keeping properties meant that the new ships would perform better than a "30-knotter" in any seas except for a flat calm.[6]

Design

View at stern and the three propeller shafts of HMS Eden, 1904 laying in the dry dock

As with other early British destroyer classes, the Admiralty invited specialist private firms to submit their own designs for destroyers which would meet the specification. The idea was to use the builders' knowledge of building small, fast, ships to help cram powerful machinery into a small hull. For this reason, details of the hull and internal arrangements differed between ships in the class.

Nevertheless, the River class can clearly be distinguished from previous destroyers because of its raised forecastle. Previous British designs had a low "turtle-back" forecastle, which, although intended to clear the bows, caused them to dig in to the sea, resulting in a very wet conning position. The bridge was also further back than in previous destroyer models.

All ships were coal fired (except Arno which was oil-fired), and all had triple expansion steam engines except for four; Eden, Stour, Test and Arno were powered by steam turbines. Eden was given turbines to test their viability for future destroyer classes, with two propellers on each of her three shafts, to transmit the power at the high revolutions of the direct drive turbines, a feature of the earlier Turbinia.

By 1906 the Russo-Japanese War had shown that the 6-pounder gun was insufficiently effective, so the five 6-pounders in this class were replaced by three additional 12-pounders, creating an "all big gun" armament.[7]

Performance

With a general increase in size and more solid construction, the Rivers became the first truly oceangoing and useful torpedo boat destroyers in Royal Navy service.

Despite making only 25 knots (previous classes had made 27 to 30 knots (50 to 56 km/h) under the most favourable conditions), the increased seaworthiness meant that they could maintain this speed into a sea and that they remained workable and fightable at the same time. Notwithstanding a variety of design differences, all ships had either two broad funnels or two pairs of narrow funnels.

Ships

HMS Welland

Thirty-three ships were ordered - ten ships under the 1901-02 Programme, eight ships under the 1902-03 Programme , and fifteen ships under the 1903-04 Programme. A further fourteen orders were projected under the draft 1904-05 Programme, but one vessel built by Palmers on speculation in 1902 was instead purchased for the Navy, and the other intended orders were never placed. Two additional vessels (likewise built on speculation by Cammell Laird in 1904-05) were purchased in December 1909 under the 1908-09 Programme, and a similar vessel building in Genoa for the Portuguese Navy was purchased by the Admiralty in 1915 following the outbreak of war.

Apart from the Gala and Blackwater (both lost by accidents in 1908 and 1909 respectively), all these ships were re-designated as the 'E' class in 1913 (including Arno in 1915) and saw service during World War 1, when seven of them were sunk. The 28 ships surviving the war were all sold out of service and scrapped by late 1920.

Name Builder Laid down Launch date Completed Fate
1901-02 Programme
DerwentR. W. Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn12 June 190214 February 1903July 1904.[8]Mined and sunk off Le Havre 2 May 1917.[9]
EdenR. W. Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn12 June 190213 March 1903,June 1904.[8]Rammed and sunk by SS France in English Channel 18 June 1916.[9]
ErnePalmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow3 July 190214 January 1903February 1904.[8]Wrecked off Rattray Head 6 February 1915.[9]
EttrickPalmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow9 July 190228 February 1904February 1904.[8]Sold for breaking up 27 May 1919.[9]
ExePalmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow14 July 190227 April 1903March 1904.[8]Sold for breaking up 10 February 1920.[9]
RibbleYarrow & Co., Poplar4 July 190219 March 1904June 1904.[8]Sold for breaking up 29 July 1920.[9]
TeviotYarrow & Co., Poplar10 July 19027 November 1903April 1904.[8]Sold for breaking up 23 June 1919.[9]
UskYarrow & Co., Poplar30 July 190225 July 1903March 1904.[8]Sold for breaking up 29 July 1920.[9]
FoyleLaird Brothers,(a) Birkenhead15 August 190225 February 1903March 1904.[8]Mined and sunk in Straits of Dover 15 March 1917.[9]
ItchenLaird Brothers, Birkenhead18 August 190217 March 1903January 1904.[8]Torpedoed and sunk by U-boat U-99 in the North Sea 6 July 1917.[9]
1902-03 Programme
ArunLaird Brothers, Birkenhead17 August 190229 April 1903February 1904.[8]Sold for breaking up 30 June 1920.[9]
BlackwaterLaird Brothers, Birkenhead27 August 190225 July 1903March 1904.[8]Sunk in collision with SS Hero 6 April 1909 off Dungeness.[9]
WellandYarrow & Co., Poplar1 October 190214 April 1904July 1904.[8]Sold for breaking up 30 June 1920.[9]
WaveneyR. W. Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn20 October 190216 March 190314 June 1904.[8]Sold for breaking up 10 February 1920.[9]
KennetJohn I. Thornycroft & Company, Chiswick5 December 1902 [10]4 December 1903January 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 11 December 1919.[9]
JedJohn I. Thornycroft & Company, Chiswick27 February 190316 February 1904January 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 29 July 1920.[9]
CherwellPalmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow20 January 190323 July 1903March 1904.[8]Sold for breaking up 23 June 1919.[9]
DeePalmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow5 March 190310 September 1903May 1904.[8]Sold for breaking up 23 July 1919.[9]
Rother (b)Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow23 March 19035 January 1904May 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 23 June 1919.[9]

Note: (a) Laird Brothers were taken over by steelmakers Cammell in 1903, and were renamed Cammell Laird & Co.
(b) Rother was not ordered under the 1902-03 Programme; Palmers laid down 3 ships to the same design in early 1903, but only received orders for two ships, the third ship being built on speculation; this was purchased by the Admiralty in 1904 in lieu of one of the 143 orders projected under the 1904-05 Programme, and was named Rother.

A major distinction in appearance between the ships on the 1901-02 and 1902-03 Programmes on one hand and the ships of the 1903-04 Programme on the other hand is that the former were completed with the forward pair of 6-pdr guns mounted on sponsons extending outwards from the ship's sides (abreast of the bridge). With the 1903-04 Programme these sponsons were deleted, the high forecastle was extended back as far as the bridge and the two foremost 6-pdr guns were mounted directly on the two sides of the forecastle immediately forward of the bridge. The same change was subsequently retro-fitted into the earlier batches.

Name Builder Laid down Launch date Completed Fate
1903-04 Programme
BoyneR. W. Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn16 February 190412 September 1904May 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 30 August 1919.[9]
DoonR. W. Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn16 February 19048 November 1904June 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 27 May 1920.[9]
KaleR. W. Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn16 February 19048 November 1904August 1905.[8]Mined and sunk in North Sea 27 March 1918.[9]
SwalePalmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow23 February 190420 April 1905September 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 23 June 1919.[9]
UrePalmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow1 March 190425 October 1904June 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 27 May 1919.[9]
WearPalmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow7 March 190421 January 1905August 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 4 November 1919.[9]
LiffeyCammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead22 March 190423 September 1904May 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 2 June 1919.[9]
MoyCammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead22 March 190410 November 1904June 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 27 May 1919.[9]
OuseCammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead22 March 19047 January 1905September 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 22 October 1919.[9]
GalaYarrow & Co., Poplar1 February 19047 January 19051905.[8]Collided with HMS Attentive and sank 27 April 1908 off Harwich.[9]
GarryYarrow & Co., Poplar25 April 190431 March 1905September 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 22 October 1920.[9]
ChelmerJohn I. Thornycroft & Company, Chiswick11 February 19048 December 1904June 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 30 June 1920.[9]
ColneJohn I. Thornycroft & Company, Chiswick21 March 190421 May 1905July 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 4 November 1919.[9]
NessJ. Samuel White, Cowes5 May 19045 January 1905August 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 27 May 1919.[9]
NithJ. Samuel White, Cowes5 May 19047 March 1905October 1905.[8]Sold for breaking up 23 June 1919.[9]
Later purchases
Stour (c)Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead5 December 19043 June 1905March 1910.[8]Sold for breaking up 30 August 1919.[9]
Test (c)Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead5 December 19046 May 1905March 1910.[8]Sold for breaking up 30 August 1919.[9]
Arno (d)Giovanni Ansaldo & Co, Genoaunknown22 December 1914June 1915.[8]Sunk off the Dardanelles in collision with the destroyer Hope 30 August 1919.[11]

Note: (c) Stour and Test were not ordered under the 1903-04 Programme but were built concurrently by Cammell Laird on speculation; these were purchased by the Admiralty in December 1909, completed and named Stour and Test.
(d) building as Portuguese Liz pre-war, but purchased by the Admiralty in March 1915 prior to completion, and renamed for the river Arno in Portugal.

As all of these vessels were designed and constructed by their shipbuilders to their own company designs, they differed in detail and in appearance. Even ships built at different times by the individual builders would differ from year to year, not least the ships built in 1903-04 and later after the deletion of the sponsons from the designs.

Notes

  1. ↑ A turtleback is an arched structure over the deck of a ship, normally at the ship's bow, to protect against reach seas.[3]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Friedman 2009, pp.292–293.
  2. ↑ Friedman, p. 86
  3. ↑ "turtleback: Definitions". wordnik.com. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  4. ↑ Friedman, p. 87
  5. ↑ Friedman, p. 88
  6. ↑ Friedman, pp. 88-89
  7. ↑ Gardiner and Chesneau, p. 99
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Friedman 2009, p. 304.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Dittmar and Colledge 1972, p. 59.
  10. ↑ Friedman has this date as 5 February 1902, but this is a misprint as The Thornycroft List (taken from the shipbuilder's own records) clearly shows the month should be December, not February.
  11. ↑ Dittmar and Colledge 1972, p. 69.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to River class destroyer.
  • Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J. J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
  • Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.
  • Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Manning, T. D. (1961). The British Destroyer. London: Putnam & Co. OCLC 6470051.
  • March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC 164893555.
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