List of torpedo boat classes of the Royal Navy

This is a list of torpedo boat classes of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, organised chronologically by entry into service. This article's coverage is restricted to the steam-powered torpedo boats built for or acquired by the British Navy between 1876 (the date on which the Admiralty ordered the first torpedo boat to carry the self-propelled Whitehead torpedo) and 1905; the final batch of 36 steam-turbine-powered torpedo boats from 1906 to 1908 were originally rated as coastal destroyers and will be found under Cricket-class destroyers, while later torpedo boats introduced during World War 1, powered by internal combustion engines, will be found under Motor Torpedo Boats.

Torpedo boats
Ever since the first use of spar torpedoes in the American Civil War and the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), the world's sea powers continued to refine the small torpedo craft concept to employ the new automobile torpedoes (Whitehead torpedoes) that could continue the legacy of small and relatively inexpensive vessels able to challenge much larger vessels. The Royal Navy purchased 1st and 2nd class torpedo boats for offensive and defensive combat roles, respectively.

Later – especially to counter the French automobile defense – the British Navy primarily ordered torpedo boat catchers (or torpedo gunboats), which proved too slow for the task of dealing with torpedo boats, and subsequently torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) - or destroyers as they soon became called.

1st class torpedo boats
First class torpedo boats were designed for independent inshore operations. They were small, but large enough to patrol coastal waters and enjoy some limited endurance beyond their supporting port or tender. Nevertheless, they were found to be deployed overseas - notably to the Mediterranean - and eventually worldwide.

Lightning-design
These two boats were ordered for Russia, but were purchased by the British Admiralty during the Russo-Turkish war scare.
 * John I. Thornycroft & Company, Chiswick. The first torpedo boat, TB.1 (originally called Lightning), was ordered on 26 January 1876 and underwent trials on 22 May 1877; her dimensions were slightly different from her successors (TB.2 - TB.12) which were all ordered on 3 October 1877 and notably deleted the coach roof of the prototype.
 * Maudslay, Sons and Field, Lambeth
 * TB.13
 * Yarrow & Company, Poplar
 * TB.14
 * Hanna, Donald & Wilson, Paisley
 * TB.15
 * Stephen Lewin, Poole
 * TB.16 – not taken into service
 * Yarrow & Company, Limited
 * J. Samuel White, Cowes
 * TB.19
 * G. & J. Rennie, Paisley
 * TB.20
 * Des Vignes, Chertsey
 * TB.21 – not accepted from RN because of lack of performance; the number was thus re-used for the first of the 113-footer group.

113-Footers
On 10 December 1883 the Admiralty wrote both to John I. Thornycroft & Company and to Yarrow & Company asking them to tender for one or more improved First Class torpedo boats.

TB.21 class
on 21 December 1883 Thornycroft replied forwarding their design HO 1992 and the specification in accordance with the Admiralty's letter. The dimensions were similar to those of the Sookhoun (Yard number 167, built 1882 for the Imperial Russian Navy) and the Childers (Yard number 172, built 1882 for the Victorian Government in Australia). Two boats were ordered by the Admiralty on 19 January 1884 for delivery in 9 and 10 months respectively. They ran trials on 30 April and 25 May 1885 respectively.

TB.23 class
The Admiralty similarly placed orders with Yarrow for two boats (built at Poplar).

125-Footers
All 53 boats of this group (TB.25 to TB.79, excluding TB.39 and TB.40) carried 5 x 14-in torpedo tubes (one bow tube plus two pairs of deck tubes) and a complement of 16. Alternatively they could carry a gun armament of two 3-pounders and four MGs in lieu of the deck tubes. The bow tubes were later removed.

TB.25 class
The first of these boats was ordered from Thornycroft on 24 February 1885, and another four boats were ordered on 30/31 March 1885.

TB.30 class
These four boats were ordered on 30/31 March 1885.
 * Yarrow & Company, Limited (1885–86)

TB.34 class

 * J. Samuel White (1885–87). Based on White's TB.19 with "turnabout" stern but enlarged and built with more beam than the Thornycroft and Yarrow boats. All five took part in the 1887 Naval Review. TB.34 spent all her life in Home waters, but TB.35 and TB.36 sailed in March 1888 for the China Station, followed later by TB.37 and TB.38; these four spent all their lives on this station and were eventually sold together at Hong Kong in 1919.

100-Footers (purchases)

 * Yarrow & Company, Limited. These two boats of 40 tons each were ordered for the Chilean Navy as Glaura and Fresia, but were purchased by the British Navy in 1888 and deployed to the West coast of Canada.

TB.41 class
These twenty boats were ordered on 30 April or 1 May 1885, and were identical with the previous four Thornycroft boats.
 * John I. Thornycroft & Company (1886)

TB.61 class
This batch was ordered on 30 April or 1 May 1885, one month after the TB.30 to TB.33 batch with which they were identical. The last two (TB.79 and TB.80) differed in detail and in dimensions; the 75-ton TB.79 was 128ft 8in in oa length; the 105-ton TB.80 was 134ft 9in bp by 14ft beam.

153-Footer (HMS Swift)

 * J. Samuel White
 * TB.81

130-Footers
(ordered under 1887-88 Programme, as repeats of TB.79)
 * Yarrow & Company, Limited

140-Footers
Ten "140-footer" were ordered to four different builders' designs under the 1892-93 Programme. They were built in the same period as the first of the 26-knotter TBDs (torpedo boat destroyers) which rapidly superseded the traditional torpedo boat, and like them carried the new 18-in torpedoes, which marked a step-change both in size and capability. All these vessels were quickly deployed to the Mediterranean and stayed there throughout the rest of their service lives, based primarily on Gibraltar.

TB.91 class
These three boats were ordered from John I. Thornycroft & Company on 4 July 1892, exactly one week after the orders were placed for Thornycroft's Daring and Decoy torpedo-boat destroyers, and thus followed them in sequence of Yard numbers.

TB.94 class

 * J. Samuel White

TB.97

 * Laird Brothers, Birkenhead

135-Footers
(ex Royal Indian Marine boats, taken over by RN in 1892 and given numbers in 1900 instead of their original names)
 * John I. Thornycroft & Company
 * TB.100 (ex-Baluchi)
 * TB.102 (ex-Karen)
 * TB.103 (ex-Pathan)
 * Hanna, Donald & Wilson
 * TB.101 (ex-Gurkha)
 * J. Samuel White
 * TB.104 (ex-Mahratta)
 * TB.105 (ex-Sikh)
 * TB.106 (ex-Rajput)

160-Footers
The Royal Navy's thirteen 160 Footers comprised three distinct classes, each built to their constructors' own designs.

TB.98 class
These four boats, discontinuously numbered because the seven boats built for the Royal Indian Marine in 1892 were given the numbers 100 to 106, were built by Thornycroft at Chiswick to a common design. The first two (Yard numbers 346 and 347) were ordered on 21 November 1899 under the 1899-1900 Programme and were completed in July 1902. The later pair (Yard numbers 351 and 352) were ordered on 25 April 1900 under the 1900-1901 Programme and were completed in September 1902.

TB.109 class
Five more Thornycroft boats were built under the 1901-02 Programme to a different design, about 7% greater in displacement and being four feet longer than the TB.98 boats. The first four of these boats were ordered from Thornycroft on 11 November 1901, and the fifth on 14 December 1901. Their yard numbers were 359 to 363 respectively.

TB.114 class
The remaining four boats, similar in scale to the TB.109 models, were constructed by J. Samuel White at Cowes, and were all commissioned on 3 January 1905.

Cricket class
No further 1st Class torpedo boats were ordered until 1905, when twelve new vessels were projected to meet the needs for coastal defence. Such new torpedo boats were proposed in December 1904 to be vessels not exceeding 165ft in length and 250 tons, carrying two 12-pounder guns and three torpedo tubes, and capable of 26 knots for 8 hours with an endurance of 1,000 nautical miles at 15 knots. Such criteria would have closely paralleled the original 27-knotter torpedo-boat destroyers of 1893-4, although the new type were to have steam turbines and oil fuel, and so the new ships were quickly re-designated as 'coastal destroyers'. Thornycroft, Yarrow and White were invited to tender, and each produced plans for a three-shaft propulsion with an astern turbine on the centre shaft; each project was larger than first required, being between 175ft and 180ft in length. These twelve coastal destroyers, given names rather than simply numbers, were ordered under the 1905-06 Programme to the three builders' own designs. In October 1906 these were re-classified as torpedo boats and their original names were replaced by the numbers TB.1 to TB.12. To avoid confusion with the surviving early 1st Class torpedo boats, those survivors bearing numbers up to TB.79 inclusive were renumbered to include a "0" before the number (e.g. TB.79 became TB.079). Twelve more of these new torpedo boats were ordered in the 1906-07 Programme, to enlarged designs, and a final twelve in the 1907-08 Programme; these were numbered TB.13 to TB.36.

2nd class torpedo boats
These 74 small (generally 60ft to 66ft in length) torpedo boats were to be carried on larger ships or given to dedicated torpedo boat carriers, such as HMS Vulcan and HMS Hecla. With a single (US-built) exception, all were constructed by Thornycroft at Chiswick (45 boats), by Yarrow at Poplar (16 boats) or by White at Cowes (12 boats, with wooden hulls). These boats were designed as harbour defence and coastal boats, but their small size meant their endurance and sea-keeping abilities would be quite modest. Note that their numbering was in a separate sequence from that of the 1st Class boats. Similar boats were built for the naval services of New Zealand (4 boats) and the Australian colonies of Victoria (3 boats), Queensland (2 boats), and Tasmania (1 boat); all of these were built by Thornycroft.

Thornycroft 2nd class orders 1877

 * John I. Thornycroft & Company. 60ft Length overall, and 10.75 tons. Ordered 3 October 1877, completed 1878 (first six) and 1879 (last six). The first four were attached to HMS Hecla after their completion.

Herreschoff purchase

 * Herreschoff Manufacturing Company, Bristol, Rhode Island
 * No. 63

Thornycroft 2nd class orders 1879

 * John I. Thornycroft & Company. An improvement on the previous batch, being 62ft 10in in length and 13 tons. Ordered 27 May 1879 or 11 July 1879, completed 1880 (first two) and 1881-82 (other eight).

Thornycroft 2nd class orders 1880

 * John I. Thornycroft & Company. Ordered 28 February 1880 (contract 3 March 1880). The first two (TB.76 and TB.77) differed from the others by being fitted experimentally with the Herreschoff spiral water tube boiler (first seen in Royal Navy service with 2nd Class TB.63 built by Herreschoff).

Thornycroft water-jet propelled 2nd class
This was an experimental craft designed by Nathaniel Barnaby (when chief naval architect for Thornycroft). Ordered 21 December 1880.

Thornycroft 2nd class orders 1884

 * John I. Thornycroft & Company. Ordered 17 November 1884.

J. Samuel White wood TBs
The first nine were ordered in 1883, another two in 1887, and the last in 1888. Unlike the Thornycroft and Yarrow boats, they were wooden-hulled and were precursors of the 56ft steam pinnaces which superseded the Second Class steel boats (in a multi-role function).