HMS Harrier (1894)

Harrier sailing from Malta c.1900
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Harrier
Builder:	Devonport Dockyard
Laid down:	21 January 1893
Launched:	20 February 1894
Commissioned:	8 July 1896
Fate:	Sold for commercial use in 1920
General characteristics
Class and type:	Dryad-class torpedo gunboat
Displacement:	1070 tons
Length:	262 ft 6 in (80.0 m)
Beam:	30 ft 6 in (9.3 m)
Draught:	13 ft (4.0 m)
Installed power:	3,500 ihp (2,600 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × 3-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines Locomotive boilers Twin screws
Speed:	18.2 kn (33.7 km/h)
Complement:	120
Armament:	2 × QF 4.7-inch (12 cm) guns 4 × 6-pounder 1 × Nordenfelt machine gun 5 × 18-inch torpedo tubes On conversion to a minesweeper in 1914 two torpedo tubes were removed

The sixth HMS Harrier was a Dryad-class torpedo gunboat. She was launched at Devonport Dockyard on 20 February 1894, and saw service in the Mediterranean and in fishery protection. She served as a minesweeper during World War I and was sold for commercial use in 1920.

Ordered under the Naval Defence Act of 1889, which established the "Two-Power Standard", the class was contemporary with the first torpedo boat destroyers. With a length overall of 262 ft 6 in (80.01 m), a beam of 30 ft 6 in (9.30 m) and a displacement of 1,070 tons, these torpedo gunboats were not small ships by the standard of the time; they were larger than the majority of World War I destroyers. Harrier was engined by Hawthorn Leslie and Company with two sets of vertical triple-expansion steam engines, two locomotive-type boilers, and twin screws. This layout produced 3,500 indicated horsepower (2,600 kW), giving her a speed of 18.2 knots (33.7 km/h). She carried between 100 and 160 tons of coal and was manned by 120 sailors and officers.

The armament when built comprised two QF 4.7-inch (12 cm) guns, four 6-pdr guns and a single 5-barrelled Nordenfelt machine gun. Her primary weapon was five 18-inch (450-mm) torpedo tubes, with two reloads. On conversion to a minesweeper in 1914 two of the five torpedoes were removed.

Lieutenant and Commander Philip Walter was appointed in command in July 1897, during her first commission, which was spent on the Mediterranean Station. She left Port Said for Malta on 8 February 1900, and on 24 March 1900 paid off at Devonport. Commander Cyril Everard Tower was appointed in command on 11 March 1901, following which she again returned to the Mediterranean Station, and in late November 1901 replaced the Mariner-class gunvessel Melita as the special service vessel at Constantinople. She visited the Danube in early 1902, and was ordered to the Persian Gulf on special service in June that year.