HMS Leven (1898)
| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | HMS Leven |
| Ordered: | 1897 – 1898 Naval Estimates |
| Builder: | Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan, Glasgow |
| Laid down: | 24 January 1898 |
| Launched: | 28 June 1898 |
| Commissioned: | July 1899 |
| Out of service: | Paid off, 1919 |
| Fate: | Sold for breaking, 14 September 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Fairfield "30 knotter" destroyer |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | |
| Beam: | 21 ft 0 1⁄4 in (6.41 m) |
| Draught: | 8 ft 2 in (2.5 m) |
| Installed power: | 6,300 ihp (4,700 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
| Complement: | 63 officers and men |
| Armament: |
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| Service record | |
| Operations: | World War I 1914 - 1918 |
| Awards: | Battle honour "Belgian Coast 1914–16" |
HMS Leven was a Fairfield "30-knotter" destroyer of the Royal Navy, later classified as part of the C class. It was built in 1898–1899, and served with the Royal Navy through to the First World War, sinking a German U-boat in 1918. Leven was sold for scrapping in 1920.
HMS Leven was ordered from the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan, Glasgow, as part of the British Admiralty's 1897–1898 shipbuilding programme, one of six "Thirty-Knotter" destroyers ordered in that programme, at a contract cost of £52,407. As with other early Royal Navy destroyers, the design of Leven was left to the builder, with the Admiralty laying down only broad requirements.
Leven's design was a near repeat of the three Thirty-Knotters (Fairey, Falcon and Gipsy) ordered as part of the previous 1896–1897 construction programme, with four Thornycroft boilers feeding a triple-expansion steam engine, and three funnels being fitted. The ship had the standard armament of the Thirty-Knotters, i.e. 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.
Leven was laid down as Yard No 405 on 24 January 1898 and launched on 28 June 1898. During her builder's trials the ship made its contracted speed requirement. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in July 1898, and was the third ship to carry this name since it was introduced in 1813 for a 20-gun sixth rate in service until 1848.
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