HMS Hardy (1895)
HMS Hardy was a which served with the Royal Navy. She was built by William Doxford & Sons in 1895, launched on 16 December 1895, and sold off on 11 July 1911.
Construction and design
HMS Hardy was one of the two destroyers ordered from William Doxford & Sons on 3 November 1893 as part of the Royal Navy's 1893–1894 construction programme.The Admiralty did not specify a standard design for destroyers, laying down broad requirements, including a trial speed of, a "turtleback" forecastle and armament, which was to vary depending on whether the ship was to be used in the torpedo boat or gunboat role. As a torpedo boat, the planned armament was a single QF 12 pounder 12 cwt gun on a platform on the ship's conning tower, together with a secondary gun armament of three 6-pounder guns, and two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. As a gunboat, one of the torpedo tubes could be removed to accommodate a further two six-pounders.
Doxford's design had a hull of length overall and between perpendiculars, with a beam of and a draught of. Eight Yarrow boilers fed steam at to triple expansion steam engines rated at and driving two propeller shafts. Displacement was light and deep load. Unusually for the destroyers ordered under the 1893–1894 programme, the Admiralty accepted a guaranteed speed of, rather than the more normal 27 knots, possibly owing to Doxford's inexperience in building torpedo-craft. This speed dropped to at deep load. Sufficient coal was carried to give a range of at. Three funnels were fitted. The ship's complement was 50 officers and men.
She was laid down as Yard Number 226 at Doxford's Sunderland shipyard on 4 June 1894, and was launched on 16 December 1895. Sea trials were successful, with the ship reaching an average speed of, and she was completed in August 1896.
Service history
She saw early service in home waters. In 1896 Hardy was in reserve at Chatham. Lieutenant Harry Hesketh Smyth was appointed in command in April 1900, as she was readied for service with the Mediterranean Squadron, from where she was relieved by the destroyer in late May 1902. She arrived at Plymouth on 5 July 1902, and paid off at Chatham later the same month. Lieutenant Robert Gordon Douglas Dewar was appointed in command during summer 1902, and was briefly succeeded by Lieutenant George Geoffrey Codrington from late 1902 until January 1903, when she took the place of HMS Angler in the Medway instructional flotilla.Hardy was sold for scrap at Devonport for £1400 on 11 July 1911.