Dryad-class torpedo gunboat

The Dryad-class torpedo gunboat was the last class of torpedo gunboat built for the Royal Navy. This type of vessel was rapidly replaced by the faster torpedo boat destroyer, and all of the class were converted to minesweepers during World War I, with the exception of Hazard, which became a submarine depot ship.

Design
Ordered under the Naval Defence Act of 1889, which established the "Two-Power Standard", the ships were contemporary with the first torpedo boat destroyers, a type which subsequently superseded the torpedo gunboats. With a length overall of 262 ft, a beam of 30 ft 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.

Machinery
They were equipped with two sets of vertical triple-expansion steam engines, with two locomotive-type boilers, driving through twin screws. This layout produced 3500 ihp giving them a speed of 18.2 kn; Halcyon was uprated to produce 6000 ihp, giving her a speed of approximately 20 kn. They carried between 100 and 160 tons of coal and were manned by 120 sailors and officers.

Armament
The armament when built comprised two QF 4.7 in guns, four 6-pounder guns and a single 5-barrelled Nordenfelt machine gun. Hussar as built mounted only one QF 4.7-inch gun, two 12-pounders and one 6-pounder. The primary weapon was five 18-inch (450-mm) torpedo tubes, with two reloads. On conversion to minesweepers in 1914 two of the five torpedoes were removed.