HMS Express (1896)
Laird plans for Express
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Express |
| Builder: | Laird, Son & Co., Birkenhead |
| Laid down: | 1 December 1896 |
| Launched: | 11 December 1897 |
| Completed: | February 1902 |
| Fate: | Scrapped, 1921 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Torpedo boat destroyer |
| Displacement: | 465 long tons (472 t) |
| Length: | 239.25 ft (72.9 m) |
| Beam: | 23.5 ft (7.2 m) |
| Draught: | 10.25 ft (3.1 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph) |
| Complement: | 74 |
| Armament: | |
HMS Express was a B-class torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was completed by Laird, Son & Company, Birkenhead, in 1896. Like many contemporary British destroyers, she was a "builder's special", designed to Admiralty specifications but built to the builder's own design.
The 1896–1897 shipbuilding programme of the British Admiralty included orders for 20 torpedo boat destroyers. Of these, 17 were "thirty-knotters", as ordered under the 1894–1895 and 1895–1896 programmes, which had a contract speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph). The remaining three destroyers, ordered from Laird (Express), J & G Thomson (Arab) and Thornycroft (Albatross) were "specials", which were required to reach higher speeds. While Thomson's and Thornycroft's destroyers had contract speeds of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph), Laird's design was required to reach a speed of 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph).
Express was 239 feet 6 inches (73.00 m) long overall, with a beam of 23 feet 6 inches (7.16 m) and a draught of 14 feet 8 inches (4.47 m). Displacement was 465 long tons (472 t) light and 540 long tons (550 t) full load. Four coal-fired Normand boilers fed steam at 240 pounds per square inch (1,700 kPa) to two triple expansion engines rated at 9,250 indicated horsepower (6,900 kW). Four evenly spaced funnels were fitted. Up to 140 long tons (140 t) of coal were carried, sufficient to give an endurance of 1,470 nautical miles (2,720 km; 1,690 mi) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph).
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