Ordered as part of the 1893–1894 Naval Programme, the Rocket-class torpedo boat destroyers were J & G Thompson's first such ships.[1] They displaced 280LT at normal load and 325LT at deep load. The ships had an overall length of 203feet, a beam of 19feet and a draught of 6feet. They were powered by a pair of triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single propeller shaft using steam provided by four Normand boilers. The engines developed 4100ihp and were intended to give a maximum speed of 27kn.[2] During her sea trials Rocket reached from .[3] The Rocket-class ships carried a maximum of 75LT of coal that gave them a range of 1445nmi at . Their crew numbered 53 officers and ratings.[2]
The ships were armed with a single quick-firing (QF) 12-pounder (3 in (76 mm) Mk I gun and five QF 6-pounder Mk I Hotchkiss guns in single mounts. Their torpedo armament consisted of two rotating torpedo tubes for 18-inch (450 mm) torpedoes, one mount amidships and the other on the stern.[4]
Rocket was ordered on 3 November 1893 for delivery within 12 months. The ship was laid down as Yard number 269 by J & G Thompson at its Clydebank shipyard on 14 February 1894, launched on 14 August and completed in July 1895.[5] [6] While delivered later than contracted, Rocket was still one of the quickest to build of the 27-knotter destroyers ordered as part of the 1893–94 shipbuilding programme, and the design was considered satisfactory by the Admiralty,[5] although in March 1896, a report in the newspaper The Times noted that her boilers were prone to priming at speeds over 14kn, that her machinery had broken down five times, and that she was likely to be relieved from her duties with the particular Service Squadron as soon as a replacement ship became available.[7]
After her commission she served at the North America and West Indies Station under the command of Lieutenant Adolphus Huddlestone Williamson. She was ordered to return home in early 1902,[8] but the order was cancelled and she was still in North American waters when she was at Halifax, Nova Scotia in September,[9] and then visited Trinidad in December 1902.[10]
In 1910, Rocket was disarmed, and used for radio experiments.[11] The ship was sold for scrap on 10 April 1912 to Ward of Preston.[6] [11]