Ardent-class destroyer

The three Ardent-class torpedo boat destroyers ("Thornycroft  ") were ordered by the British Admiralty on 12 October 1893  and served with the Royal Navy.  Built by Thornycroft for a contract price of £110,520 for all three vessels, they displaced 301 tons fully laden, and were  long overall. 

The Ardent-class were derived from the preceding Daring class, but were larger and more powerfully engined.  They were armed with one 12-pounder quick-firing gun forward and three 6-pounder guns, mounted on the broadside and aft, and three 18-inch torpedo tubes , one fixed in a bow mount and two on a revolving mount abaft the two funnels; the fixed bow tube was subsequently found to throw up too much spray and was removed very early in their careers, at which time two extra 6-pounder guns were installed en echelon amidships.  They carried a complement of 2 officers and 50 ratings; one more was later added. 

These three ship met the speed requirement of 27 knots for which they were designed.  Over the measured mile and in three-hour trials they averaged the following power (ihp) and speed:

At her second preliminary trial, Ardent reached 29 knots with 407 r.p.m.,  the engines developing 5,044 ihp.  However, Boxer was the fastest British destroyer among all the 27-knotters, her best run over the measured mile being 30¾ knots.  In September 1913 the Admiralty re-classed all the remaining 27-knotter destroyers as 'A' Class; this applied to both Boxer and Bruiser, although the 'Ardent' herself had already been scrapped.  Boxer and Bruiser were the oldest destroyers in service in the Royal Navy in the First World War, although the oldest destroyer-type vessel was the large 'torpedo boat/torpedo boat chaser' TB81 (ex-Swift), a destroyer precursor. 

Vessels in class

Notes

References

External links

 

 
Category:Destroyer classes
Category:Ship classes of the Royal Navy