The Beagle class (officially redesignated as the G class in 1913) was a class of sixteen destroyers of the Royal Navy, all ordered under the 1908-1909 programme and launched in 1909 and 1910. The Beagles served during World War I, particularly during the Dardanelles Campaign of 1915.
Design For the 1908–1909 shipbuilding programme, the British Admiralty decided to revert to a smaller, more affordable destroyer to follow-on from the large and fast (required to reach ) and the experimental . The destroyers needed sufficient range to operate across the North Sea in the event of a confrontation with Germany, which rendered the coastal destroyers which had been built as a low-cost supplement to the expensive Tribals outdated, requiring larger numbers of a cheaper standard destroyer.Friedman 2009, pp. 108, 114.Preston 1985, p. 74. While the Tribals were oil fuelled, it was decided to return to the use of coal for the new destroyers, because of concerns over the availability of oil stocks in the event of a war and to reduce costs. They were the last British destroyers to be so fueled.Friedman 2009, p. 118.Manning 1961, p. 55.
The Beagles were not built to a standard design, with detailed design being left to the builders of individual ships in accordance with a loose specification.Brown 2010, p. 68. They were between and long between perpendiculars, with a beam of between and , with an average draught of .Preston 1985, p. 73. It was expected that the ships would displace but the builder's designs came out heavier, at about normal and full load. Five Yarrow or White-Forster boilers fed direct-drive steam turbines driving three propeller shafts. The machinery was rated at to give a speed of .Brown 2010, p. 69. Three funnels were fitted.Friedman 2009, p. 116.
The Beagle class was designed to carry a gun armament of five 12-pounder (76 mm) guns, with two mounted side by side on a raised platform on the ship's forecastle, two on the ship's beams, with the port gun mounted ahead of the starboard gun and one aft. While the ships were building, however, it was decided to replace the two forecastle guns by a single gun, giving a gun armament of one BL 4 inch naval gun Mk VIII and three QF 12-pounder 12 cwt guns) Torpedo armament consisted of two torpedo tubes, with one between the ship's funnels and the aft gun, and one right aft at the stern of the ship. These torpedoes had a range of at or at . Two spare torpedoes were carried.Friedman 2009, pp. 116, 118.Preston 1985, pp. 73–74.
Wartime modifications included replacement of the aft torpedo tube by a 3-pounder (47 mm) anti-aircraft gun in some ships, while depth charges were also fitted.Friedman 2009, p. 116.
The Beagles were followed, in the 1909–10 Programme, by the (later known as the H class).
Service As the Beagles completed in 1910, they joined the 1st Destroyer Flotilla of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. but in 1913 they were sent to the Mediterranean,Manning 1961, p. 26. where they formed the 5th Flotilla, remaining there on the outbreak of the First World War. They were officially redesignated the G class in October 1913 as part of a general re-designation of the Royal Navy's destroyers.Preston 1985, pp. 18, 74. The Beagle class spent most of the war in the Mediterranean, with several taking part in the Dardanelles Campaign. Late in 1917, the ships of the class were recalled to British waters, where three ships were lost to accidents, two by running aground and one to collision.
Being coal-fired, they were obsolete by the end of the First World War and the surviving ships were all scrapped by the end of 1921.
Ships Name Builder Laid down Launch date Completed Fate John Brown and Company, Clydebank 17 March 1909 16 October 1909 June 1910.Friedman 2009, p. 305. Sold for breaking up 1 November 1921.Dittmar and Colledge 1972, p. 60. John Brown and Company, Clydebank 30 March 1909 13 November 1909, 7 July 1910. Sold for breaking up 21 September 1920. John Brown and Company, Clydebank 1 April 1909 11 December 1909 September 1910. Sold for breaking up 1 November 1921. William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton 20 May 1909 15 March 1910 September 1910. Wrecked on Seven Stones reef, Land's End 24 July 1918. Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Govan 17 April 1909 23 November 1909 July 1910. Sold for breaking up 1 November 1921. Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Govan 22 April 1909 27 January 1910 August 1910. Sold for breaking up 31 August 1920. Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Govan 3 May 1909 19 February 1910 September 1910. Sold for breaking up 26 October 1921.Dittmar and Colledge 1972, p. 61. R. W. Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn 9 March 1909 11 February 1910 August 1910. Sold for breaking up 9 May 1921. Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead 1 May 1909 15 February 1910 October 1910. Wrecked on Irish coast 9 January 1918 during blizzard.Moore 1990, p. 314. Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead 20 April 1909 13 November 1909 September 1910. Sold for breaking up 31 August 1920. Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead 26 April 1909 15 January 1910 September 1910. Sunk in collision with the sloop in Lough Foyle 12 December 1917. Harland & Wolff, Glasgow 29 April 1909 14 March 1910 September 1910. Sold for breaking up 9 May 1921. Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Bow Creek 14 April 1909 30 March 1910 September 1911. The ship was renamed on 16 December 1913, freeing up the original name for a submarine. Sold for breaking up 21 September 1920.Dittmar and Colledge 1972, pp. 60–61. John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston 2 March 1909 10 March 1910 August 1910. Sold for breaking up 9 May 1921. J. Samuel White & Company, Cowes 11 May 1909 9 February 1910 September 1910. Sold for breaking up 1 November 1921. J. Samuel White & Company, Cowes 23 April 1909 27 November 1909 July 1910.Friedman 2009, p. 306. Sold for breaking up 1 November 1921.
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