HMS TB 13 (1907)

The Cricket-class was intended as a smaller and cheaper supplement to the large, fast, but expensive Tribal-class destroyer, particularly in coastal waters such as the English Channel.[1][2] Twelve ships were ordered under the 1905–1906 shipbuilding programme, with 12 more ordered in November 1906 under the 1906–1907 programme. The 1906–1907 orders were distributed with four ships being built by J. Samuel White, two by Denny, two by Thornycroft, two by Hawthorn Leslie and one each by Palmers and Yarrow.[1][3]

White's ships were 184 feet 3 inches (56.16 m) long with a beam of 18 feet 0 inches (5.49 m) and a draught of 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 m). Displacement was 270 long tons (270 t).[4] The ships had turtleback[lower-alpha 1] forecastles and two funnels. Two oil-fuelled Yarrow water-tube boilers fed steam to three-stage Parsons steam turbines, driving three propeller shafts.[3][2] The machinery was rated at 4,000 shaft horsepower (3,000 kW), giving a speed of 26 knots (30 mph; 48 km/h).[4]

Armament consisted of two 12-pounder (76-mm) 12 cwt guns[lower-alpha 2], and three 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (in three single mounts).[3][1] The ships had a crew of 35.[3]

The first of White's 1906–1907 ships, TB 13 was laid down at White's Cowes shipyard on 14 March 1907, was launched on 10 July 1907 and completed in May 1908.[6]

TB 13 commissioned into the Devonport Flotilla of the Home Fleet on 17 June 1909.[7]

In July–August 1909, TB 13 took part in the Naval Manoeuvres, during which she collided with the torpedo-boat TB 19. TB 13 was badly holed, with her engine rooms and stokeholds flooded, and was brought into Portsmouth by the torpedo boat TB 20 and the torpedo-gunboat Niger.[8]

In 1912, four Patrol Flotillas were formed with torpedo boats and older destroyers, with the duties of preventing enemy minelaying or torpedo attacks on the east coast of Britain.[9][10] In March 1913, TB 13 was a member of the Seventh Flotilla, based at Devonport,[11] but by July 1914 she had moved to the Eighth Flotilla, based at Chatham.[12]

In November 1914, TB 13 was listed as part of the Eighth Patrol Flotilla, based on the Tyne.[13]

TB 13 was lost in a collision in the North Sea on 26 January 1916.[14]

• Brown, D. K. (2003). Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860–1905. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-84067-5292.
• Dittmar, F. J.; Colledge, J. J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
• Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9.
• Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Gardiner, Robert; Lambert, Andrew, eds. (1992). Steam, Steel & Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-564-0.
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• Monograph No. 7: The Patrol Flotillas at the Commencement of the War (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. III. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1921. pp. 71–107.
• Moore, John (1990). Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. London: Studio Editions. ISBN 1-85170-378-0.