HMS Halcyon (1894)

Halcyon
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Halcyon
Builder	Devonport Dockyard
Laid down	2 January 1893[1]
Launched	6 April 1894
Commissioned	16 May 1895[1]
Fate	Sold for breaking on 6 November 1919
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Dryad-class torpedo gunboat
Displacement	1,070 tons
Length	262 ft 6 in (80.0 m)
Beam	30 ft 6 in (9.3 m)
Draught	13 ft (4.0 m)
Installed power	6,000 ihp (4,500 kW)
Propulsion	2 × 3-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines Locomotive boilers Twin screws
Speed	19 kn (35 km/h)
Complement	120
Armament	2 × QF 4.7-inch (12 cm) guns 4 × 6-pounder 1 × Nordenfelt machine gun 5 × 18-inch torpedo tubes On conversion to a minesweeper in 1914 two torpedo tubes were removed

The third HMS Halcyon was a Dryad-class torpedo gunboat^[1] of the Royal Navy. Once described as "perhaps the smallest and least formidable vessel that ever crept into the 'Navy List,' ",^[2] she was launched in 1894 and was put up for sale before World War I. She was recommissioned in 1913, was converted to a minesweeper and served under the orders of the Admiral Commanding Coast Guard and Reserves. She was sold for breaking in 1919.

Design[]

Ordered under the Naval Defence Act of 1889, which established the "Two-Power Standard", the class was contemporary with the first torpedo boat destroyers. With a length overall of 262 ft 6 in (80.01 m),^[1] a beam of 30 ft 6 in (9.30 m)^[1] and a displacement of 1,070 tons,^[1] these torpedo gunboats were not small ships by the standard of the time; they were larger than the majority of World War I destroyers. Halcyon was engined by Hawthorn Leslie and Company^[1] with two sets of vertical triple-expansion steam engines, two locomotive-type boilers, and twin screws. Halcyon produced 6,000 indicated horsepower (4,500 kW),^[1] nearly twice the power of the rest of her class. She was capable of 19^[3] or 20 knots (37 km/h).^[1] She carried between 100 and 160 tons of coal and was manned by 120 sailors and officers.^[1]

Armament[]

The armament when built comprised two QF 4.7-inch (12 cm) guns, four 6-pounder guns and a single 5-barrelled Nordenfelt machine gun. Her primary weapon was five 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes,^{[Note 1]} with two reloads.^[1] On conversion to a minesweeper in 1914 two of the five torpedoes were removed.^[1]

Construction[]

Halcyon was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 2 January 1893^[1] and launched on 6 April 1894.^[4]

Operational history[]

Naval review of 1897[]

On 26 June 1897 Halcyon was present at the Fleet Review at Spithead in celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.^[3]

Mediterranean station[]

HMS Halcyon was commissioned to serve at the Mediterranean Station by Commander Scott W. A. Hamilton Gray in March 1898. She was stationed at Souda Bay in early March 1900,^[5] but later the same month left for Port Said to temporary relieve HMS Rupert as coast defence ship.^[6] In May 1901 she left the Mediterranean and paid off at Devonport, to be placed in the Fleet Reserve for refitting.^[7]

Pre-war service[]

Although being offered for sale,^[3] she was recommissioned at Sheerness on 5 July 1913.^[3]

World War I service[]

In August 1914 she became the ship of the Senior Naval Officer North Sea Fisheries, serving under the orders of the Admiral Commanding Coast Guard and Reserves.^[3] Located at Yarmouth, she was involved in the Raid on Yarmouth.

On 29 July 1917, Halcyon spotted a periscope near the Smiths Knoll buoy east of Yarmouth, and carried out a ramming attack, followed by dropping two depth charges. Halcyon was credited with sinking the submarine, UB-27.^[8]

Disposal[]

She was sold to J H Lee of Dover for breaking on 6 November 1919.^[1]

Notes[]

References[]

• Corbett, Julian S. (1920). History of the Great War: Naval Operations: Volume I: To the Battle of the Falklands. London: Longmans, Green & Co.
• Corbett, Julian S. (1920). History of the Great War: Naval Operations: Volume II. London: Longmans, Green & Co.
• Grant, Robert M. (1964). U-Boats Destroyed: The Effects of Anti Submarine Warfare 1914–1918. London: Putnam.
• Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6.