On 8 November 1893, the British Admiralty placed an order with the Naval Construction and Armament Company of Barrow-in-Furness (later to become part of Vickers) for three "Twenty-Seven Knotter" destroyers as part of the 1893–1894 construction programme for the Royal Navy,[1] with in total, 36 destroyers being ordered from various shipbuilders for this programme.[2]
The Admiralty only laid down a series of broad requirements for the destroyers, leaving detailed design to the ships' builders. The requirements included a trial speed of 27kn, a "turtleback" forecastle and a standard armament of a QF 12 pounder 12 cwt (3inches calibre) gun on a platform on the ship's conning tower (in practice the platform was also used as the ship's bridge), with a secondary armament of five 6-pounder guns, and two 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.[3] [4] [5]
The Naval Construction and Armament Company produced a design with a length of 194feet overall and 190feet between perpendiculars, with a beam of 19feet and a draught of 7feet. Displacement was 300LT light and deep load.[1] Three funnels were fitted, with the foremast between the ship's bridge and the first funnel.[6] [7] Four Blechyndnen water-tube boilers fed steam at to two three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines rated at .[1] [8] 60 tons of coal were carried,[9] giving a range of 1370nmi at a speed of .[10] The ship's crew was 53 officers and men.[10]
HMS Starfish was laid down on 22 March 1894 as the second of Naval Construction and Armament Company's three destroyers, and was launched on 26 January 1895.[1] During sea trials in October 1895, Starfish made an average speed of over six runs over a measured mile, meeting the requirement of the specification.[8] Starfish was commissioned in January 1896.[1]
Starfish served throughout her career in home waters, being prone to failures of her propeller brackets, which were made of forged scrap iron.[1] In late January 1900 it was announced that she would be commissioned as tender to the gunnery school .[11] In 1900–1901, Starfish was used in tests of a modified spar torpedo for use as an anti-submarine weapon. The long spar, carrying an explosive charge, would be swung out and immersed in the water in action, and detonated as the submarine was passed.[6] [12]
Starfish was attached to the torpedo school at Portsmouth in 1901,[13] participating in the 1901 Naval Manoeuvres.[14] She took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII.[15] In April 1903, Starfish was used for trials of the use of kites designed by Samuel Cody for lifting radio antennae.[16] On 26 October 1907 a minor collision took place between Starfish and the destroyer at Devonport, both ships' hulls being dented.[17]
Starfish was laid up at Devonport for disposal in 1910,[13] and was sold for scrap to Thos. W. Ward of Preston on 15 May 1912.[18]