Mermaid-class destroyer explained

Two Mermaid-class destroyers served with the Royal Navy during the First World War.^[1] They were three-funnelled turtle-backed destroyers with the usual Hawthorn funnel tops. Built in 1896 - 1898, and were launched by R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Company from their Hebburn-on-Tyne shipyard.

Their Thornycroft boilers produced 6,100 hp to given them the required 30kn and they were armed with the standard 12-pounder gun and two torpedo tubes. They carried a complement of 63 officers and men. In 1913 the pair - like all other surviving three-funnelled destroyers of the "30-knotter" group - were reclassed as s. The almost identical ships built subsequently at the same yard differed only by having Yarrow boilers.

References

• Book: Lyon, David . The First Destroyers . Shipshape monographs . 1996 . 2001 . Caxton Editions. London . 1-84067-364-8 . .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Mermaid-class at BattleshipsCruisers.co.uk. 2009-04-02.