H.M.S. Skate (1895)

H.M.S. Skate (1895)
Builder:	Vickers^[1]
Ordered:	1893-94^[2]
Laid down:	20 Mar, 1894^[3]
Launched:	13 Mar, 1895^[4]
Commissioned:	14 Jan, 1896^[5]
Broken up:	1907^[6]

H.M.S. Skate was one of thirty-six 27 Knotters, a broad meta-class of early Torpedo Boat Destroyers built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s.

She was broken up in 1907.

Service

Skate was the first of the Royal Navy's destroyers to be disposed of, being first used for trials of anti-torpedo guns off Shoeburyness in 1906, and then sold for scrap on 9 April, 1907 to Cox, Falmouth.^[7]^[8]

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

Lieutenant & Commander Cecil F. Lambert, 14 January, 1896^[9] – 2 March, 1896^[10]
Commander Lionel de L. Wells, 18 August, 1896^[11] – 7 November, 1896^[12]
Commander Robert H. Travers, 7 November, 1896 – 10 September, 1897 (participated in the Jubilee Naval Review and the Annual Manoeuvres of 1897)
Lieutenant & Commander John G. Armstrong, 1 December, 1897^[13] – 10 August, 1898^[14]
Lieutenant & Commander Francis E. Walters, 10 August, 1898^[15]
Lieutenant & Commander Alan C. Bruce, mid 1902^[16] (for passage home)
Lieutenant James U. Farie, 1 August, 1902^[17] – 2 September, 1902^[18]
Lieutenant & Commander Henry R. Heathcote, 7 July, 1903 – 15 October, 1903
Lieutenant & Commander William H. Grieve, 14 July, 1904^[19] – 1904 (for Annual Manoeuvres of 1904)
Lieutenant-Commander Arthur S. Chambers, 28 October, 1904 – 1 April, 1905

Footnotes

↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 93. Then known as the "Naval Construction and Armament Company".
↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 92.
↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 93.
↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 93.
↑ The Navy List. (March, 1896). p. 263.
↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 93.
↑ Admiralty to C.-in-C. Nore. 17 January 1906. Ship's Cover 128. f. 175.
↑ The First Destroyers. p. 70.
↑ Lambert Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/20. f. 253/510.
↑ Lambert Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/20. f. 253/510.
↑ Wells Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/39/619. f. 1383.
↑ Wells Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/39/619. f. 1383.
↑ Armstrong Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 160.
↑ Armstrong Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 160.
↑ The Navy List. (October, 1898). p. 297.
↑ Bruce Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43/319. f. 351.
↑ Farie Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 385.
↑ Farie Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 385.
↑ "Appointments for the Naval Manoeuvres." The Times (London, England), Saturday, Jul 09, 1904; pg. 12; Issue 37442.