HMS Thistle (1899)

Thistle on the Yangtze in 1910
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Thistle
Namesake:	The Thistle
Builder:	London & Glasgow
Laid down:	2 December 1897
Launched:	22 July 1899
Fate:	Scrapped, 1926
General characteristics
Class and type:	Bramble-class gunboat (1898)
Displacement:	710 long tons (721 t)
Length:	180 ft (54.9 m)
Beam:	33 ft (10.1 m)
Draught:	8 ft (2.4 m)
Installed power:	1,300 ihp (970 kW)
Propulsion:	2 shafts, triple-expansion steam engines Coal-fired boilers Auxiliary sailing rig
Speed:	13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph)
Range:	2000 nm at 11.5 kn (trials, 1899) 1000 nm at 5.5 kn (effective, 1915)
Complement:	85
Armament:	As Buiilt, 1899 2 × 4 in (102 mm) QF 4 × 12 pdr / 3 in (76 mm) QF 4 × 0.45 in (11 mm) inch Maxim gun As Refitted, 1922 2 × 4 in (102 mm) QF 2 × Vickers 3-pounder / 1.85 in (47 mm) anti-aircraft gun 2 × 2-pounder / 1.6 in (41 mm) pom-pom 4 × Hotchkiss 3-pounder / 1.85 in (47 mm) saluting gun

HMS Thistle was a Bramble-class gunboat of the Royal Navy, launched in 1899 and broken up in 1926. She is notable for being the last classic Victorian gunboat, and the last British warship to retain a practical sailing rig.

HMS Thistle was the last of four Bramble-class vessels, built in the 1890s to patrol the remote outposts of the British Empire in the era of gunboat diplomacy.

In most respects, she resembled a scaled-down protected cruiser, a steel warship with a modern design and up-to-date armament, and very comfortable quarters for her crew. However, in order to navigate on uncharted coasts and tropical rivers, she was given a very compact shallow-draught hull, and this meant she only had a very limited coal supply. In addition, low technology was used to minimize construction cost and logistical requirements. As a result, the Thistle was given a two-masted sailing rig as a supplementary means of propulsion, along with a number of other anachronistic features such as a manual capstan to raise the anchor, and candles rather than light bulbs.

Policy changes shortly after the Thistle's launch meant that no further gunboats would be built for the Royal Navy, and the use of sail propulsion was strongly discouraged. Nonetheless, problems with using Thistle's engines for long-range cruising would prompt the restoration of her sailing rig in 1919, while her usefulness on colonial stations meant that she was refitted to maintain her capabilities in the 1920s, acquiring an anti-aircraft armament.

The Thistle was laid down at the London & Glasgow shipyards in Govan in December 1897. She was the last ship of her class to be launched, on 22 June 1899, and would not complete her fitting-out until 1901. On her sea-trials, she performed well, reaching her design speed of 13.5 knots under engine power.

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