HMS Spiteful (1899)

HMS Spiteful
History
United Kingdom
Name	Spiteful
Builder	Palmers, Jarrow
Cost	£50,977
Laid down	12 January 1898
Launched	11 January 1899
Completed	February 1900
Identification	P 73 (1900–1915) D 91 (1915–1918) D 76 (1918–1920)
Fate	Sold for scrap 14 September 1920
General characteristics
Class and type	Spiteful-class torpedo boat destroyer, classified as B-class in 1913
Displacement	400 tons (406.4 tonnes)
Length	220 ft (67.1 m) overall
Beam	20 ft 9 in (6.3 m)
Draught	9 ft 1 in (2.77 m)
Propulsion	2 triple expansion steam engines 4 coal-fired Reed boilers (converted to fuel oil in 1904) 6,300 hp (4,698 kW) (indicated)
Speed	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range	4,000 NM (at 13.05 knots)
Complement	63
Armament	1 × QF 12-pounder gun 5 × QF 6-pounder guns 2 × 18-inch (460 mm) torpedo tubes

HMS Spiteful was a Spiteful-class torpedo boat destroyer built at Jarrow, England, by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company for the Royal Navy and launched in 1899. Specified to be able to steam at 30 knots, she spent her entire career serving in the seas around the British Isles.

In 1904 Spiteful's boilers were modified to burn fuel oil. Tests were conducted by the Royal Navy in that year, comparing her performance using oil directly with that of a similar ship using coal, in which it was proved that burning oil offered significant advantages. This led to the adoption of oil as the source of power for all warships built for the Royal Navy from 1912. In 1913 Spiteful was classified as a B-class destroyer. She was sold and scrapped in 1920.