HMS Virago (1895)
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Other uses".
Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Template:Use British English
| Script error: No such module "InfoboxImage". HMS Virago firing in honour of the King, 1901 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". |
HMS Virago was a B-class torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was completed by Laird Brothers, Birkenhead, in 1897. One of four Quail-class destroyers she served during the Great War and was sold off after hostilities ended.[1]
Construction and design
HMS Virago was laid down as Yard number 609 at Laird's shipyard at Birkenhead on 13 June 1895, the fourth "Thirty-Knotter" destroyer ordered from Lairds for the Royal Navy as part of the 1894–95 shipbuilding programme.[2] The ship was launched on 19 November 1895,[2] undergoing sea trials on 27 November 1896, where she reached a speed of Script error: No such module "convert". over the measured mile and an average speed of Script error: No such module "convert". over a three-hour run.[3] Virago was completed in June 1897.[2]
Armament was a QF 12 pounder 12 cwt (Script error: No such module "convert". calibre), with a secondary armament of five 6-pounder guns, and two 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.[4][5] As with other early Royal Navy destroyers, the detailed design was left to the builder, with the Admiralty laying down only broad requirements.[6][7]
Laird's four ships were each powered by two four-cylinder triple expansion steam engines, fed by four Normand boilers, rated at Script error: No such module "convert"., and were fitted with four funnels. They had an overall length of Script error: No such module "convert"., a beam of Script error: No such module "convert". and a draught of Script error: No such module "convert".. Displacement was Script error: No such module "convert". light and Script error: No such module "convert". full load,[8][9] while crew was 63.[10]
Service history
On 26 June 1897, the newly completed Virago took part in the naval review at Spithead to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.[11] The Laird-built torpedo boat destroyers were considered well suited to overseas deployment, being good sea boats and having adequate stability for making long oceanic journeys to their stations,[12] and so Virago was posted, along with sister ship Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". to the Pacific Station, based at Esquimalt in British Columbia, Canada.[13] In 1903, Virago was transferred to the China Station.[14]
On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyers were to be grouped into classes designated by letters based on contract speed and appearance. As a four-funneled 30-knotter destroyer, Virago was assigned to the B class.[15][16]
Virago was still listed as part of the China Squadron in December 1913,[17] but in January 1914, she was listed for sale at Hong Kong.[18] The outbreak of the First World War ended these plans, however, and Virago was re-commissioned at Hong Kong on 15 August 1914.[19] Virago was paid off in preparation for sale on 10 May 1919,[19] and was sold for scrap on 10 October that year.[14]
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1"..
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Footnotes".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Bibliography
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
External links
- HMS VIRAGO - August 1914 to July 1915, August 1917 to May 1919, China Station Logbooks as part of Old Weather Project