Mermaid-class destroyer

Two Mermaid-class destroyers served with the Royal Navy during the First World War.[2] They were three-funnelled turtle-backed destroyers with the usual Hawthorn funnel tops. Built in 1896–1898, Mermaid and Cheerful were launched by R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Company from their Hebburn-on-Tyne shipyard.

The visually identical Greyhound underway in 1906
Class overview
Name: Mermaid class
Operators:  Royal Navy
Built: 1896–1898
In commission: 1897–1919
Completed: 2
Lost: 1
Scrapped: 1
General characteristics
Type: Destroyer
Displacement:
  • 385 long tons (391 t) light
  • 430 long tons (437 t) full load
Length: 214 ft 6 in (65.38 m) overall
Beam: 21 ft 1 in (6.43 m)
Draught: 13 ft (4.0 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 shaft reciprocating engines
  • 4 Thornycroft boilers[1]
  • 6,100 shp (4,549 kW)
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement: 62
Armament:
  • 1 × QF 12 pounder 12 cwt gun
  • 2 × 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes (2×1)

Their Thornycroft boilers produced 6,100 hp to given them the required 30 knots (56 km/h) and they were armed with the standard 12-pounder gun and two torpedo tubes. They carried a complement of 63 officers and men. In 1913 the pair - like all other surviving three-funnelled destroyers of the "30-knotter" group - were reclassed as C-class destroyers. The almost identical Greyhound-class ships built subsequently at the same yard differed only by having Yarrow boilers.

References
  1. Lyon, The First Destroyers, p. 93
  2. "Mermaid-class at BattleshipsCruisers.co.uk". Retrieved 2 April 2009.
  • Lyon, David (2001) [1996]. The First Destroyers. Shipshape monographs. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-364-8.


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