H.M. T.B. 1 (1876)
| H.M. T.B. 1 (1876) | |
|---|---|
| Builder: | John I. Thornycroft & Company[1] |
| Ordered: | 26 January, 1876 |
| Launched: | 1876 |
| Broken up: | 1896[2] |
H.M.S. Lightning (later designated T.B. 1) was one of 19 first-class torpedo boats of the T.B. 1 class.
Service
She arrived at Portsmouth from Thornycroft's shipyard at Chiswick on 10 May, 1877, to run her official steam trials and for fitting out with torpedo gear. At this time she had already reached 12 knots on trial quite easily.[3] Those trials commenced on 22 May.[4]
Further trials proved Lightning to be a very unhandy vessel—at full power her turning radius was the same as the big unarmored frigate Shah.[5]
After her boiler was retubed, Lightning ran a speed trial on 17 January, 1879 and reached a mean speed of 17.5 knots.[6] She was refitted with a fixed torpedo tube in her bow during the same year.[7]
In 1881, there were twenty T.B.s in all; T.B. 1 was "fitted for Whitehead" and serving as tender to Vernon.[8] She was fitted with torpedo dropping gear for trials in 1883.[9]
T.B. 1 was used for harbor service only after 1884, still attached to Vernon, having been condemned as inefficient in that year. Her engine was removed for use as yard machinery in Portsmouth Dockyard in 1895, and her hull was sold to P. Rice, Portsmouth, for £25 in 1896.[10]
Captains
As an experimental vessel that spent her career as a tender to the Vernon, Lightning seems never to have been assigned an official commanding officer. However she was, unusually for torpedo boats, assigned a permanent superintendent engineer officer, borne additional initially in the Asia then from 1878 onward in Vernon. By 1891 this position was listed as "For service in 'Lightning', Torpedo Boats, &c."[11]
Dates of appointment are provided when known.
- Chief Engineer Henry W. White, 3 March, 1877[12]
- Chief Engineer William Vincent, 16 January, 1878[13]
- Chief Engineer Joseph Minhinnick, 9 March, 1882[14]
- Staff Engineer Henry G. Johnston, 31 October, 1884[15]
- Chief Engineer Robert Harding, 14 October, 1890[16]
- Staff Engineer Alfred J. Nye, 1 June, 1893[17]
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 101.
- ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 101.
- ↑ "Naval and Military Intelligence". The Times. Friday, 11 May, 1877. Issue 28939, col F, p. 10.
- ↑ Lyon; Winfield. The Steam & Sail List. p. 308.
- ↑ "Naval and Military Intelligence". The Times. Tuesday, 11 September, 1877. Issue 29044, col E, p. 8.
- ↑ "Naval and Military Intelligence". The Times. Tuesday, 21 January, 1879. Issue 29470, col E, p. 10.
- ↑ Lyon; Winfield. The Steam & Sail List. p. 308.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1881. p. 35.
- ↑ Lyon; Winfield. The Steam & Sail List. p. 308.
- ↑ Lyon; Winfield. The Steam & Sail List. p. 308.
- ↑ The Navy List. (April, 1891). p. 262.
- ↑ The Navy List. (October, 1877). p. 131.
- ↑ The Navy List. (March, 1880). p. 249.
- ↑ The Navy List. (October, 1882). p. 249.
- ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1886). p. 256.
- ↑ The Navy List. (April, 1891). p. 262.
- ↑ The Navy List. (December, 1894). p. 268e.
Bibliography
| T.B. 1 Class First-class Torpedo Boat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lightning | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T.B. 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thornycroft Repeat Lightnings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T.B. 2 | T.B. 3 | T.B. 4 | T.B. 5 | T.B. 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T.B. 7 | T.B. 8 | T.B. 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T.B. 10 | T.B. 11 | T.B. 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other Builders | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T.B. 13 | T.B. 14 | T.B. 15 | T.B. 17 | T.B. 18 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T.B. 19 | T.B. 20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Torpedo Boats (UK) | H.M. T.B. 63 | –> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First-class Torpedo Boats (UK) | T.B. 39 Class | –> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
