HMS Earnest (1896)

History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Earnest
BuilderLaird, Son & Co., Birkenhead
Laid down2 March 1896
Launched7 November 1896
CompletedNovember 1897
FateScrapped, 1920
General characteristics
Class and typeEarnest-class destroyer
Displacement395 long tons (401 t)
Length210 ft (64 m)
Beam21.5 ft (6.6 m)
Draught9.75 ft (3.0 m)
Propulsion
Speed30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement63
Armament

HMS Earnest was a "thirty-knotter" torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was built by Laird, Son & Company at their Birkenhead shipyard as one of six Earnest-class destroyers ordered as part of the Royal Navy's 1895–1896 construction programme, which were later classified as members of the B-class. Earnest was launched on 7 November 1896 and was completed in November 1897.

Earnest served in the Mediterranean from 1898 to 1907, before returning to Britain. She remained in service in the First World War, being employed on patrol and convoy escort duties in the North Sea and Irish Sea. Earnest was sold for scrap on 7 January 1920.