For the 1908–1909 shipbuilding programme, the British Admiralty decided to revert to a smaller, more affordable destroyer to follow-on from the large and fast (required to reach 33kn) and the experimental 36kn . The destroyers needed sufficient range to operate across the North Sea in the event of a confrontation with Germany, which rendered the coastal destroyers which had been built as a low-cost supplement to the expensive Tribals outdated, requiring larger numbers of a cheaper standard destroyer.[1] [2] While the Tribals were oil fuelled, it was decided to return to the use of coal for the new destroyers, because of concerns over the availability of oil stocks in the event of a war and to reduce costs. They were the last British destroyers to be so fueled.[2] [3] [4]
The Beagles were not built to a standard design, with detailed design being left to the builders of individual ships in accordance with a loose specification.[5] They were between 263feet and 275feet long between perpendiculars, with a beam of between 26inchesft10inchesin (ftin) and 28inchesft1inchesin (ftin), with an average draught of 8feet.[6] It was expected that the ships would displace but the builder's designs came out heavier,[3] at about 945LT normal and 1100LT full load.[6] Five Yarrow or White-Forster boilers fed direct-drive steam turbines driving three propeller shafts. The machinery was rated at 14300shp to give a speed of .[6] [7] Three funnels were fitted.[8] The Beagle class was designed to carry a gun armament of five 12-pounder (76 mm) guns, with two mounted side by side on a raised platform on the ship's forecastle, two on the ship's beams, with the port gun mounted ahead of the starboard gun and one aft. While the ships were building, however, it was decided to replace the two forecastle guns by a single 4adj=onNaNadj=on gun, giving a gun armament of one BL 4 inch naval gun Mk VIII and three QF 12-pounder 12 cwt guns) Torpedo armament consisted of two 210NaN0 torpedo tubes, with one between the ship's funnels and the aft gun, and one right aft at the stern of the ship. These torpedoes had a range of 1000yd at or 12000yd at . Two spare torpedoes were carried.[9] [10]
Wartime modifications included replacement of the aft torpedo tube by a 3-pounder (47 mm) anti-aircraft gun in some ships,[6] while depth charges were also fitted.[11]
The Beagles were followed, in the 1909-10 Programme, by the (later known as the H class).
As the Beagles completed in 1910, they joined the 1st Destroyer Flotilla of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet.[2] but in 1913 they were sent to the Mediterranean,[12] where they formed the 5th Flotilla, remaining there on the outbreak of the First World War.[2] They were officially redesignated the G class in October 1913 as part of a general re-designation of the Royal Navy's destroyers.[13] The Beagle class spent most of the war in the Mediterranean, with several taking part in the Dardanelles Campaign. Late in 1917, the ships of the class were recalled to British waters, where three ships were lost to accidents, two by running aground and one to collision.[2]
Being coal-fired, they were obsolete by the end of the First World War and the surviving ships were all scrapped by the end of 1921.
| Name | Builder | Laid down | Launch date | Completed | Fate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 March 1909 | 16 October 1909 | June 1910.[14] | Sold for breaking up 1 November 1921.[15] | |||
| John Brown and Company, Clydebank | 30 March 1909 | 13 November 1909, | 7 July 1910. | Sold for breaking up 21 September 1920. | ||
| John Brown and Company, Clydebank | 1 April 1909 | 11 December 1909 | September 1910. | Sold for breaking up 1 November 1921. | ||
| 20 May 1909 | 15 March 1910 | September 1910. | Wrecked on Seven Stones reef, Land's End 24 July 1918. | |||
| 17 April 1909 | 23 November 1909 | July 1910. | Sold for breaking up 1 November 1921. | |||
| Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Govan | 22 April 1909 | 27 January 1910 | August 1910. | Sold for breaking up 31 August 1920. | ||
| Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Govan | 3 May 1909 | 19 February 1910 | September 1910. | Sold for breaking up 26 October 1921.[16] | ||
| 9 March 1909 | 11 February 1910 | August 1910. | Sold for breaking up 9 May 1921. | |||
| Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead | 1 May 1909 | 15 February 1910 | October 1910. | Wrecked on Irish coast 9 January 1918 during blizzard.[17] | ||
| 20 April 1909 | 13 November 1909 | September 1910. | Sold for breaking up 31 August 1920. | |||
| Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead | 26 April 1909 | 15 January 1910 | September 1910. | Sunk in collision with the sloop in Lough Foyle 12 December 1917.[18] | ||
| 29 April 1909 | 14 March 1910 | September 1910. | Sold for breaking up 9 May 1921. | |||
| 14 April 1909 | 30 March 1910 | September 1911. | The ship was renamed on 16 December 1913, freeing up the original name for a submarine. Sold for breaking up 21 September 1920.[19] | |||
| 2 March 1909 | 10 March 1910 | August 1910. | Sold for breaking up 9 May 1921. | |||
| 11 May 1909 | 9 February 1910 | September 1910. | Sold for breaking up 1 November 1921. | |||
| J. Samuel White & Company, Cowes | 23 April 1909 | 27 November 1909 | July 1910.[20] | Sold for breaking up 1 November 1921. |