R-class destroyer (1916)


The first R class were a class of 62 destroyers built between 1916 and 1917 for the Royal Navy. They were an improvement, specifically in the area of fuel economy, of the earlier destroyers. The most important difference was that the Admiralty R class had two shafts and geared turbines, compared with the three shafts and direct turbines of the Admiralty M class, but in appearance the R class could be distinguished from its predecessors by having the after 4-inch gun mounted in a bandstand. The Admiralty ordered the first two of this class of ships in May 1915. Another seventeen were ordered in July 1915, a further eight in December 1915, and a final twenty-three in March 1916.
As well as these fifty ships to the standard 'Admiralty' design, twelve more R class were designed and built by the two specialist builders Yarrow Shipbuilders and John I. Thornycroft & Company to their own separate designs. Three were ordered from Thornycroft and four from Yarrow in July 1915, and two from Thornycroft and three from Yarrow in December 1915.
They were the last three-funnelled destroyers ordered by the Royal Navy. All of these ships saw extensive service in World War I. Some saw service as minelayers. Eight R-class ships were sunk during the war and all but two of the surviving ships were scrapped in the 1920s and 1930s. One Admiralty R-class vessel,, survived to see service in World War II as a convoy escort, making her the oldest destroyer to see wartime service with the Royal Navy. A second, was transferred to the Royal Siamese Navy as Phra Ruang in September 1920 and survives to this day as a hulk.

Admiralty R-class ships

Two prototypes were ordered in May 1915 as part of the 5th War Programme.
Seventeen ships were ordered in July 1915 as part of the 6th War Programme.
Eight ships were ordered in December 1915 as part of the 7th War Programme.
Twenty-three ships ordered in March 1916 as part of the 8th War Programme, of which twelve were to the same design as the previous batch.
The remaining eleven ships ordered in March 1916 were of the Admiralty Modified R class with a slightly increased breadth of 27 ft, a draught of 11 ft, and a tonnage of 1,085.
These ships had two funnels.
These seven ships built by Yarrow Shipbuilders were sometimes classified as the Yarrow Later M-class destroyer. These ships had two funnels.
Four vessels were ordered in July 1915:
Three vessels were ordered in March 1916: