HMS Starfish (1895)

HMS Starfish was a Sturgeon-class destroyer which served with the Royal Navy. Built by Vickers, she was launched in 1895 and sold in 1912.

Construction and design
On 8 November 1893, the British Admiralty placed an order with the Naval Construction and Armament Company of Barrow-in-Furness (later to become part of Vickers) for three "Twenty-Seven Knotter" destroyers as part of the 1893–1894 construction programme for the Royal Navy, with in total, 36 destroyers being ordered from various shipbuilders for this programme.

The Admiralty only laid down a series of broad requirements for the destroyers, leaving detailed design to the ships' builders. The requirements included a trial speed of 27 kn, a "turtleback" forecastle and a standard armament of a QF 12 pounder 12 cwt (3 in 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.

The Naval Construction and Armament Company produced a design with a length of 194 ft overall and 190 ft between perpendiculars, with a beam of 19 ft and a draught of 7 ft. Displacement was 300 LT light and 340 LT deep load. Three funnels were fitted, with the foremast between the ship's bridge and the first funnel. Four Blechyndnen water-tube boilers fed steam at 200 psi to two three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines rated at 4000 ihp. 60 tons of coal were carried, giving a range of 1370 nmi at a speed of 11 kn. The ship's crew was 53 officers and men.

HMS Starfish was laid down on 22 March 1894 as the second of Naval Construction and Armament Company's three destroyers, and was launched on 26 January 1895. During sea trials in October 1895, Starfish made an average speed of 27.87 kn over six runs over a measured mile, meeting the 27 kn requirement of the specification. Starfish was commissioned in January 1896.

Service
Starfish served throughout her career in home waters, being prone to failures of her propeller brackets, which were made of forged scrap iron. In late January 1900 it was announced that she would be commissioned as tender to the gunnery school HMS Excellent (shore establishment). In 1900–1901, Starfish was used in tests of a modified spar torpedo for use as an anti-submarine weapon. The 42 ft long spar, carrying an explosive charge, would be swung out and immersed in the water in action, and detonated as the submarine was passed.

Starfish was attached to the torpedo school HMS Vernon (shore establishment) at Portsmouth in 1901, participating in the 1901 Naval Manoeuvres. She took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII. In April 1903, Starfish was used for trials of the use of kites designed by Samuel Cody for lifting radio antennae. On 26 October 1907 a minor collision took place between Starfish and the destroyer HMS Daring (1893) at Devonport, both ships' hulls being dented.

Starfish was laid up at Devonport for disposal in 1910, and was sold for scrap to Thos. W. Ward of Preston on 15 May 1912.