{{short description|Zebra-class destroyer}} {{other ships|HMS Zebra}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Use British English|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image= |image_caption= }}
|section2={{Infobox ship/class overview | builders = | operators = {{navy|United Kingdom}} | class_before = {{Sclass|Swordfish|destroyer|4}} | class_after = {{sclass|Quail|destroyer|4}} | built_range = 1894–1895 | in_commission_range = 1900–1914 | total_ships_completed = 1 | total_ships_scrapped = 1 }}
|section3={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=United Kingdom |flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |name=HMS ''Zebra'' |ordered=7 February 1894 |awarded= |builder=Thames Iron Works, Bow Creek |laid_down=1 July 1894 |launched=13 December 1895 |christened= |acquired= |commissioned=January 1900 |recommissioned= |decommissioned= |in_service= |out_of_service= |renamed= |reclassified= |refit= |captured= |struck= |reinstated= |fate=Sold for scrap, 30 July 1914 |homeport= }}
|section4={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption=<ref name="Lyon p91"/> |class=none |displacement=*{{convert|310|LT|t|abbr=on|lk=on}} light *{{convert|365|LT|t|abbr=on}} full load |length=*{{convert|204|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} oa *{{convert|200|ft|m|abbr=on}} pp |beam={{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on}} |draught={{convert|7|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |power={{convert|4800|ihp|kW|abbr=on|lk=in}} |propulsion=*3 × White water tube boilers *2× multiple expansion steam engines driving 2 shafts |speed={{convert|27|kn|mph km/h|abbr=on}} (trials) |range= |endurance= |complement=50<ref name="brassey02 p274"/> |armament=*<ref name="Conways60 p91">Chesneau and Kolesnik 1979, p. 91</ref> *1 × 12-pdr gun *5 × 6-pdr guns *2 × torpedo tubes }} }}
'''HMS ''Zebra''''' was a "Twenty-seven Knotter" destroyer of the Royal Navy, later classified as part of the A Class. ''Zebra'' was built by Thames Iron Works and launched in 1895 as the fifth Royal Navy ship to be named ''Zebra''. Entering service in 1900, ''Zebra'' was sold for scrap in 1914.
==Construction== HMS ''Zebra'' was ordered on 7 February 1894 from Thames Iron Works, Blackwall, London as part of the British Admiralty's 1893–1894 shipbuilding programme, one of 36 "Twenty-seven Knotter" destroyers ordered from 14 different shipbuilders for this programme.<ref name="Lyon p19">Lyon 2001, p. 19.</ref><ref name="Lyon p91">Lyon 2001, p. 91.</ref>
These destroyers were not of a standard design, with the Admiralty laying down broad requirements, including a trial speed of {{convert|27|kn|mph km/h}}, a "turtleback" forecastle and a standard armament of a QF 12 pounder 12 cwt ({{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}} calibre) gun on a platform on the ship's conning tower (in practice the platform was also used as the ship's bridge), with a secondary armament of five 6-pounder guns, and two 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes.<ref name="Lyon p20">Lyon 2001, p. 20.</ref><ref name="Lyon p98-9">Lyon 2001, pp. 98–99.</ref><ref name="Friedman p40">Friedman 2009, p. 40.</ref> Thames Iron Work's design had three funnels, with the forward funnel widely separated from the other two, with one of the two torpedo tubes positioned in this gap. Three White water-tube boilers fed four-cylinder reciprocating steam engines rated at {{convert|4800|ihp|kW|abbr=on|lk=in}} and driving two shafts.<ref name="Lyon p91"/><ref name="Friedman p44-5">Friedman 2009, pp. 44–45.</ref>
''Zebra'' was laid down on 1 July 1894 and launched on 13 December 1895. Thames Iron Works was relatively inexperienced in building torpedo craft (it had previously built the hull of a single torpedo boat as a subcontractor for Maudslay, Sons and Field (who supplied the engines for ''Zebra'') and it took a long time for the ship to be completed and to complete trials (where she eventually reached the contract speed of 27 knots<ref name="brassey02 p274">Brassey 1902, p. 274.</ref>), not being accepted by the Navy until January 1900.<ref name="Lyon p91"/>
''Zebra'' was not particularly successful in service and no further orders for destroyers were placed with Thames Iron Works for many years.<ref name="Lyon p91"/>
==Operational history== HMS ''Zebra'' served in British home waters for the whole of her career.<ref name="Lyon p91"/> In January 1900 she was employed as tender to the {{HMS|Wildfire|shore establishment 1889|2}}, special service vessel, for training duties in connection with Sheerness Naval School of Gunnery.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=30 January 1900 |page=11 |issue=36052| }}</ref> On 17 October 1900, ''Zebra'' collided with the barge ''Emily'' off Sheerness, sinking the barge and damaging the destroyer's bow. ''Zebra'' rescued the barge's crew.<ref>{{cite news |title=Naval & Military Intelligence |newspaper=The Times |date=18 October 1900 |issue=36031 |page=11}}</ref> The following year she participated in the 1901 British Naval Manoeuvres.<ref name="Brass02 p91">Brassey 1902, p. 91.</ref> In March 1902 Lieutenant James W. G. Innes was appointed in command,<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence|date=5 March 1902 |page=5 |issue=36707| }}</ref> but the appointment was cancelled and Lieutenant Wyndham L. Bamber was appointed in command the following month.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=12 April 1902 |page=12 |issue=36740| }}</ref> She served in the Portsmouth Instructional flotilla in May 1902,<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence|date=26 May 1902 |page=7 |issue=36777| }}</ref> and took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval Review at Spithead |date=15 August 1902 |page=5 |issue=36847| }}</ref>
''Zebra'' formed part of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla in 1910, and in 1912.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rmg.co.uk/upload/pdf/Warship_Histories_Vessels_xi.pdf|title=NMM, vessel ID 379125|work=Warship Histories, vol xi|publisher=National Maritime Museum|accessdate=10 August 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130806231943/http%3A//www.rmg.co.uk/upload/pdf/Warship_Histories_Vessels_xi.pdf|archivedate=6 August 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> On 14 June 1911 the destroyer {{HMS|Zephyr|1895|2}} collided with ''Zebra'' during night exercises off the mouth of the River Thames. One of ''Zebra''{{'}}s six-pounder guns and two of her boats were knocked into the sea, but no crew were injured.<ref>{{cite magazine| title=Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Sheerness Dockyard |journal=The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect |volume=33|date=July 1911|p=439}}</ref> After repair, ''Zebra'' was attached to the submarine flotilla based at Dundee, relieving the destroyer {{HMS|Teazer|1895|2}}.<ref>{{cite magazine| title=Naval Matters—Past and Prospective: Sheerness Dockyard |journal=The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect |volume=34|date=September 1911|p=38}}</ref>
On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyers were to be grouped into classes designated by letters based on contract speed and appearance. Like all the surviving Twenty-six and Twenty-seven Knotters, ''Zebra'' was assigned to the A Class.<ref name="Conway06 p18">Gardiner and Gray 1985, p. 18.</ref><ref name="Manning p17-8">Manning 1961, pp. 17–18.</ref> The class letters were painted on the hull below the bridge area and on a funnel.<ref name="Manning p34">Manning 1961, p. 34.</ref>
By March 1913, ''Zebra'' was laid up at Sheerness and listed for sale.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=List of Vessels Available for Subsidiary Services, Hulks and Vessels for Sale |magazine=The Navy List |date=March 1913 |page=410-15<!--NOT a page range!--> |url=https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/94248378|accessdate=25 April 2020 |via=National Library of Scotland}}</ref> ''Zebra'' was sold for scrapping on 30 July 1914.<ref name="Lyon p91"/>
==Citations== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book|last=Brassey|first=T.A.|title=The Naval Annual 1902|year=1902|publisher=J. Griffin and Co|location=Portsmouth, UK}} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|editor2-last=Kolesnik|editor2-first=Eugene M.|title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905|year=1979 |name-list-style=amp |publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London |isbn=0-85177-133-5}} * {{Colledge: Ships RN|year=2006}} * {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War|year=2009|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-84832-049-9}} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Gray|editor2-first=Randal|title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921|year=1985|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-245-5|name-list-style=amp}} * {{cite book|last=Lyon|first=David|title=The First Destroyers|year=2001|publisher=Caxton Editions|location=London|isbn=1-84067-3648|orig-year=1996}} * {{cite book|last=Manning|first=T. D.|title=The British Destroyer|year=1961|publisher=Putnam & Co.|location=London|oclc= 6470051}} * {{cite book|last=March|first=Edgar J.|title=British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans|year=1966|publisher=Seeley Service|location=London |OCLC=164893555}}
{{Zebra class destroyers}} {{A class destroyer (1913)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zebra (1895)}} Category:Zebra-class destroyers Category:Ships built in Leamouth Category:1895 ships Category:A-class destroyers (1913)