These were not a homogeneous class of torpedo boat destroyers. They were built from 1895 onward to designs produced by the shipyards that built them to match guidelines laid down by the Admiralty. By 1913 the Royal Navy had split them into three 'classes':
- B-class (the ships with four funnels): 24 ships (22 served during the First World War)
- C-class (the ships with three funnels): 40 ships (36 served during the First World War)
- D-class (the ships with two funnels): 10 ships (8 served during the First World War)
By the outbreak of the First World War, although the surviving ships were obsolete and unfit for front-line service, they performed many useful tasks such a patrolling and escorting convoys, and several were lost as a result on enemy action.
- HMS Recruit was torpedoed and sunk by U-boat UB-6 on 1st May 1915.
- HMS Coquette sank on 7th March 1916 after a hitting a mine laid by U-boat UC-10.
- HMS Flirt was torpedoed and sunk by German destroyers on 27th October 1916.
- HMS Cheerful was mined and sunk on 30th June 1917.
- HMS Fairy sank after ramming U-boat UC-75 on 31st May 1918.
HMS Lively (B-class built by Laird, Birkenhead).
HMS Arab (C-class built by J & G Thomson, Clydebank).
HMS Fame (D-class built by Thornycroft, Chiswick),
The main characteristics of the '30-knotters' were:
- Displacement: 350 to 445 tons
- Dimensions:
- Length: 209ft (64m) to 215ft (55m)
- Beam: ?
- Draught: ?
- Propulsion: 2 x Triple expansion steam engines or steam turbines
- Speed: 30 to 36.5 knots
- Complement: 63 to 69
- Armament: 1 x 12-pounder QF gun; 5 x 6-pounder QF guns; 2 x 18-inch (450mm) torpedo tubes
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