Rahul Sharma (Editor)

HMS Arab (1901)

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Name
  
HMS Arab

Fate
  
Disposed of in 1919

Displacement
  
(470 Tons )

Launched
  
1901

Ordered
  
1896/1897 Programme

Class and type
  
B-class destroyer

Propulsion
  
(IHP 8,600FD)

Builder
  
John Brown & Company

HMS Arab (1901)

HMS Arab (1896 to 1897 Programme) was a B-class torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was laid down by J & G Thomson at Clydebank and completed by John Brown & Company who took over the yard.

Contents

Construction and design

As part of the 1896–1897 construction programme for the Royal Navy, the British Admiralty placed orders for thirty torpedo boat destroyers. Of these ships, 17 were required to meet the standard contract speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), while the remaining three destroyers, with one each ordered from Laird, Thornycroft and J & G Thomson, were required to reach higher speeds, with Thomson's and Thornycroft's designs (built as Arab and Albatross) contracted for 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) while Laird's ship, Express, had a speed of 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph) specified.

Arab was 232 feet (70.71 m) long overall, with a beam of 22 feet 3 inches (6.78 m) and a draught of 9 feet 9 inches (2.97 m). She displaced 470 long tons (480 t) light and 530 long tons (540 t) full load. Four coal-fed Normand boilers, with four funnels, fed two triple expansion steam engines rated at 8,600 indicated horsepower (6,400 kW) which drove two propeller shafts. Sufficient coal was carried to give a range of 1,620 nautical miles (3,000 km; 1,860 mi) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph).

She carried the specified armament for the thirty-knotters of a QF 12 pounder 12 cwt (3 in (76 mm) 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. While the ship carried the same armament as normal thirty-knotter destroyers, the more powerful engines needed more coal and hence more stokers were needed to feed the coal to the engines, with Arab's crew being 69 officers and men, compared to 63 for thirty-knotters built by Thomsons.

Construction work on Arab was delayed owing to problems during the sea trials of the thirty-knotter destroyers built by Thomsons under the 1895–1896 programme, which required significant modification to reach the required speed. Arab was finally laid down on 5 March 1900 and launched on 9 February 1901. Arab ran 9 trials between 11 March and 27 May 1901, but like the other two high-speed destroyers ordered under the 1896–1897 programme, failed to meet the contracted speed, with the maximum speed reached only 30.769 knots (56.984 km/h; 35.408 mph). She was delivered to the Royal Navy on 20 October 1902, with the Admiralty imposing a £3000 penalty owing to the ships failure to meet contract speed, the final price paid being £63,642.

Service

Arab served in home waters for the whole of her career. Arab was refitted in 1908, having her boilers retubed. In 1910, Arab was part of the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla at Devonport, serving as part of that Flotilla until 1912. On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyers were to be grouped into classes designated by letters based on contract speed and appearance. Four-funneled, 30-knotter destroyers were grouped as the B Class, and Arab was assigned to this class. By March 1913, Arab, still based at Devonport, was part of the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla, one of four Flotillas equipped with old destroyers and torpedo boats for patrol purposes.

Following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the Seventh Flotilla moved to the East coast of England. In November 1914 Arab was transferred to Scapa Flow as one of a force of 29 destroyers used for local patrols of this vital naval base. She remained based at Scapa until January 1918, but then transferred to the Firth of Forth as part of the Methil Convoy Flotilla. By May 1918, Arab transferred to the Seventh Flotilla, based on the Humber, remaining there until the end of the war.

Arab was sold for scrap on 23 July 1919.

References

HMS Arab (1901) Wikipedia