HMS Contest (1894) explained

HMS Contest was one of three s to serve with the Royal Navy.

She was launched on 1 December 1894 at the Laird, Son and Co shipyard, Birkenhead,^[1] and served most of her career in home waters.

Service history

Contest served as part of the Medway Instructional Flotilla in 1901.^[2] In July 1902 she was part of the escort meeting, which brought back to England the remains of Lord Pauncefote, British ambassador to the US who died while in office.^[3] Lieutenant Henry Ralph Heathcote was appointed in command on 1 August 1902 (a temporary appointment of Lieutenant L. J. I. Hammond in command appears to have been cancelled),^[4] when she was tender to HMS Cambridge, gunnery school ship off Plymouth. Later the same month she took part in the Coronation Review for King Edward VII on 16 August 1902.^[5] Following the review, she was paid off into the Fleet Reserve to have new boiler feedwater pumps fitted.^[6]

She was sold for scrap on 11 July 1911 for £1760.^[7]

Bibliography

• Book: Chesneau. Roger. Kolesnik. Eugene M.. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. 1979 . amp . Conway Maritime Press. London . 0-85177-133-5.
  • Book: Friedman, Norman. British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. 2009. Seaforth Publishing. Barnsley, UK. 978-1-84832-049-9.
• Book: Gardiner. Robert. Gray. Randal. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. 1985. Conway Maritime Press. London. 0-85177-245-5. amp.
• Book: Lyon, David . The First Destroyers . 2001. London. Caxton Editions. 1996 . 1-84067-364-8 . Lyon, The First Destroyers.
• Book: Manning, T. D. . The British Destroyer . Putnam & Co. . 1961. 6470051.
• Book: March, Edgar J.. British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. 1966. Seeley Service. London . 164893555.

Notes and References

1. The Times (London), Monday, 17 December 1894, p.10
2. Naval & Military intelligence . 7 January 1901 . 8 . 36345.
3. Naval & Military intelligence . 12 July 1902 . 9 . 36818.
4. Naval & Military intelligence . 6 August 1902 . 8 . 36839.
5. Naval & Military intelligence. 28 July 1902 . 7 . 36831.
6. Naval & Military intelligence. 13 August 1902 . 8 . 36845.
7. Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Devonport Dockyard . The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect . 34. August 1911. 14.