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fighting ships of the world

ROYAL NAVY (UNITED KINGDOM)

TORPEDO SHIPS

TB98 2nd class torpedo boat (1883)

Names

TB98

Builders

Thornycroft, Chiswick: TB98

Completed

1883: TB98

Losses

none

Transfers

none

Discarded

1900s: TB98

 

Displacement normal, t

14.5

Displacement full, t

 

Length, m

22.2 wl

Breadth, m

2.29

Draught, m

0.84

No of shafts

1 water jet

Machinery

1 2-cyl VC, 1 locomotive boiler

Power, h. p.

167

Max speed, kts

11.7

Fuel, t

coal

Endurance, nm(kts)

 

Armament

2 - 356 TT (bow)

Complement

7

Project history: The concept of purpose-built small TBs capable of being lifted by the davits of large ships seems to have originated with the Royal Navy; certainly more were built for that service than for any other. One TB carrier, Vulcan, was specially built to carry them, and for some years numbers of this type of boat were built. However, in the long run experience showed it was better to use the slower but much sturdier and more seaworthy steam pinnaces for this purpose, rather than the frail specially built Second Class boats.

    TB98 was built as an experiment to test the Ruthven 'turbine' (water jet propulsion by centrifugal pump), in a hull as similar as possible to the other Second Class boats (though the boiler had to be placed aft). Her speed compared badly with her sisters, manoeuvrability was 'disappointing', she had difficulty in going astern, and, worst of all for a TB, the propulsion system made a noise that could be heard 10 miles away on a calm day.

Modernizations: No significant events.

Naval service: Fate of TB98 is unknown, but she still extent in 1898.

 

© Ivan Gogin, 2008-13