HMS Stag (1899)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

HMS Stag (1899) was a Royal Navy destroyer, built as part of the 1896–97 program to produce fast “thirty-knotters.” Thornycroft at Chiswick built her (yard number 334). She was laid down on 16 April 1898, launched on 18 November 1899, and commissioned in September 1900.

Stag was designed for speed and carried two funnels. She displaced about 286 long tons light and 371 long tons full. She measured 210 feet in length, with a beam of 19 feet 9 inches and a draught of 7 feet 6 inches. Her power came from three Thornycroft water-tube boilers feeding two vertical triple-expansion steam engines with two shafts, giving around 5,800 indicated horsepower and a top speed near 30 knots. Her armament included one QF 12-pounder gun, five QF 6-pounder guns, and two 18-inch torpedo tubes. She crewed about 63 officers and men.

Stag’s early service was in the Mediterranean. She then operated in the North Sea and Irish Sea during World War I. In 1910 she collided with the destroyer Mallard, causing damage to both ships. In 1912 she was classified as a D-class destroyer. During the war she served with various flotillas, including escort duties off the east coast and later from Queenstown in the Irish Sea. She was laid up in 1919 and sold for breaking on 17 May 1921 to Thos. W. Ward, to be broken at Grays, Essex.