HMS TB 23 (1907)

HMS TB 23 was a Cricket-class coastal destroyer or torpedo-boat of the British Royal Navy. TB 23 was built by the shipbuilder Yarrow from 1907 to 1908. She was used for local patrol duties in the First World War and was sold for scrap in 1921.

History
United Kingdom
NameHMS TB 23
BuilderYarrow, London
Laid down10 February 1907
Launched5 December 1907
Completed19 February 1908
FateSold for scrap May 1921
General characteristics
Class and typeCricket-class coastal destroyer
Displacement270 long tons (270 t)
Length177 ft 3 in (54.03 m)
Beam18 ft 0 in (5.49 m)
Draught5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)
Installed power4,000 shp (3,000 kW)
Propulsion
  • 2× Yarrow boilers
  • Parsons steam turbines
  • 3 shafts
Speed26 kn (30 mph; 48 km/h)
Complement39
Armament
  • 2 × 12-pounder (76 mm) guns
  • 3 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes

Design

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]

TB 23 was 177 feet 3 inches (54.03 m) long with a beam of 18 feet 0 inches (5.49 m) and a draught of 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m). Displacement was 253 long tons (257 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 ship had a crew of 35.[3]

Service

TB 23 was laid down at Yarrow's Cubitt Town, London shipyard on 10 February 1907, was launched on 5 December 1907 and completed on 19 February 1908.[7]

TB 23 was commissioned as a tender to Blake at Sheerness Dockyard in March 1908. Later that month she was struck by the gunboat Pembroke while tied up at a buoy, damaging the torpedo-boat's stem.[8]

In March 1913, TB 23 was based at Chatham, in commission, but with a nucleus crew,[9] and remained at Chatham in July 1914.[10] In November 1914, TB 23 was listed as part of the Local Defence Flotilla for The Nore,[11] which had the duty of defending the Thames Estuary.[12] She remained part of The Nore Local Defence Flotilla in December 1918.[13]

By January 1919, TB 23, although still at the Nore, had left the Local Defence Flotilla,[14][15] and by May, was listed as in Reserve at the Nore.[16] By January 1920, TB 23 was, together with most of the remaining torpedo boats, listed as being for sale.[17] She was sold to the shipbreaker Wards for scrapping at their Grays, Essex, yard on 9 May 1921, one of twelve Cricket-class ex-coastal destroyers sold to Wards on that day.[18]

Notes
  1. A fore deck with exaggerated camber designed to throw off sea water at high speeds.[5]
  2. 12 cwt refers to the weight of the gun in hundredweights[6]

Citations
  1. Friedman 2009, pp. 110–111
  2. Brown 2003, p. 195
  3. Gardiner & Gray 1985, pp. 72–73
  4. Hythe 1912, p. 253
  5. Gardiner & Lambert 1992, p. 188
  6. Friedman 2011, p. 10
  7. Friedman 2009, p. 305
  8. "Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Sheerness Dockyard". The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect. Vol. 30. April 1908. p. 361.
  9. "Fleets and Squadrons in Commission at Home and Abroad: Torpedo Craft and Submarine Flotillas at Home Ports". The Navy List. March 1913. p. 270b. Retrieved 9 September 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  10. "Fleets and Squadrons in Commission at Home and Abroad: Patrol Flotillas". The Navy List. August 1914. p. 269c. Retrieved 9 September 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  11. "Ships of the Royal Navy — Location/Action Data 1914–1918: Admiralty "Pink Lists", 1 November 1914". World War 1 at Sea. naval-history.net. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  12. Corbett 1920, p. 16
  13. "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands, &c. : VII.—Local Defence and Escort Flotillas". The Navy List. December 1918. p. 16. Retrieved 10 September 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  14. "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands, &c. : VII.—Local Defence and Escort Flotillas". The Navy List. January 1919. p. 16. Retrieved 10 September 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  15. "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands, &c. : XI.—Vessels at Home Ports Temporarily: The Nore". The Navy List. January 1919. p. 19. Retrieved 10 September 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  16. "Supplement to the Monthly Navy List Showing Organisation of the Fleet, Flag Officers' Commands, &c. : V.—Vessels in Reserve at Home Bases and Other Ports". The Navy List. May 1919. p. 16. Retrieved 12 September 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  17. "List of Obsolete Vessels, and Vessels for Sale". The Navy List. January 1920. p. 1105g. Retrieved 12 September 2020 – via National Library of Scotland.
  18. Dittmar & Colledge 1972, p. 81

Bibliography
  • Brown, D. K. (2003). Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860–1905. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-84067-5292.
  • Corbett, Julian S. (1920). Naval Operations: Volume I, To the Battle of the Falklands December 1914. History of the Great War. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
  • 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.
  • Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
  • 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.
  • Hythe, Viscount, ed. (1912). The Naval Annual 1912. Portsmouth, UK: J. Griffin & Co.
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