Name HMS Ardent Commissioned 30 April 1895 Launched 16 October 1894 Displacement 240,400 kg | Laid down December 1893 Construction started December 1893 Length 61 m Draft 2.21 m | |
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Motto Death rather than disgrace Fate Sold for breaking 10 October 1911 Class and type Thornycroft 27 knot - 2 funnel destroyer Builder John I. Thornycroft & Company | ||
HMS Ardent was a Royal Navy 27 knot torpedo boat destroyer ordered from John I Thornycroft & Company under the 1893 – 1894 Naval Estimates. She was the sixth ship to carry this name.
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Construction
Ardent was laid down in December 1893 at the Thornycroft shipyard at Church Wharf, Chiswick and launched on 16 October 1894 by Mrs C.T. Cornish, the daughter of the company founder John Isaac Thornycroft. During her builder’s trials at Maplin Sound on 9 November 1894 the ship achieved an average speed of 29.182 knots on her full power run. Her boiler pressure was 210 pounds per square inch with shafts turning at an average of 407 revolutions per minute. Upon completion of trials she proceeded to Portsmouth to have her armament fitted. During her acceptance trials and workups her average sea speed was 23 knots.
Service history
The torpedo boat destroyer was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 30 April 1895 at Portsmouth under the command of Lieutenant & Commander Godfrey H B Mundy for service on the Mediterranean Station based at Malta. Ardent departed Portsmouth on 14 May 1895 stopping at Plymouth to join the cruiser Pique. They departed for Malta on 15 May. Upon her arrival she was tendered to the fleet flagship, Ramillies. Part of her duties was the training of the stokers in the management of water-tube boilers. On 31 March 1901 the vessel was listed as being at Malta for the British Empire census. In April 1902 she was on tactical and gunnery exercises with the Mediterranean Fleet.
Disposal
Upon her return to home waters in early 1911, Ardent was paid off into reserve. She was listed on the July 1911 (Quarterly) Navy List as being for sale. Ardent was sold on 10 October 1911 for breaking.