H.M.S. Boxer (1894)

H.M.S. Boxer (1894)
Pendant Number:	H.4C (1914-Apr 1917) D.16 (1918)
Builder:	John I. Thornycroft & Company
Ordered:	1893-94
Laid down:	Mar, 1894
Launched:	28 Nov, 1894
Commissioned:	Jun, 1895
Collision:	8 Feb, 1918

H.M.S. Boxer was one of thirty-six 27 Knotters, early Torpedo Boat Destroyers built for the Royal Navy in the 1890s.

In August, 1912, she and the other extant 27 knotters were redesignated as "A" Class Destroyers.

She was lost in the Great War to a collision in early 1918.

Service

Boxer was named by Miss Joan Thornycroft upon being launched at Chiswick on 28 November 1894. She made her first trial run barely a month later, on the morning of Friday, 21 December. Three runs over a measured mile averaged 27.88 knots, a figure deemed especially remarkable in that her engines were not first worked up at easy speeds.

In reserve at Malta in December 1903.

In mid-1913, she was based in Portsmouth.

A single Boy Telegraphist, Herbert Bennett was killed when she was lost.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

• Lieutenant & Commander Ernest C. T. Troubridge, 24 July, 1895 – 1895  (for Annual Manoeuvres of 1895)
• Commander Reginald G. O. Tupper, 12 December, 1895 – 18 August, 1896  (in command for the Annual Manoeuvres of 1896)
• Lieutenant & Commander William S. Lambert, 18 August, 1896 – 20 January, 1898
• Lieutenant & Commander Walter H. Cowan, 20 January, 1898 – 27 June, 1898
• Lieutenant & Commander Randal M. Lambert, 27 June, 1898 – 15 September, 1898
• Lieutenant & Commander Cecil J. Twistleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 10 September, 1898
• Lieutenant & Commander Frederick W. Kinahan, 1 January, 1900 – 1 January, 1902
• Lieutenant & Commander Bertram O. F. Phibbs, 1 January, 1902 – 1 April, 1902
• Lieutenant in Command Cecil D. S. Raikes, early 1902 – late 1902
• Lieutenant & Commander Bertram O. F. Phibbs, 1902 – 1902
• Lieutenant & Commander William G. A. Kennedy, June, 1905 – 10 July, 1907
• Lieutenant-Commander Vaughan A. E. Hanning-Lee, 10 July, 1907 – 12 January, 1910
• Commander Henry F. G. Talbot, 10 July, 1907 – October, 1907  (temporary)
• Lieutenant & Commander Gordon A. Coles, 12 January, 1910 – 6 June, 1911
• Lieutenant & Commander Charles L. Fox, 24 May, 1911 – 1 August, 1911
• Commander William L. Elder, 31 October, 1911 – 18 November, 1911
• Lieutenant & Commander George E. Casley, 18 March, 1912  (this is indicated as Gleaner in his service record)
• Chief Gunner in Command William B. Fuller, 11 November, 1914 – 13 April, 1915
• Lieutenant R.N.R. in Command Robert G. Cross, 13 April, 1915 – 8 March, 1916
• Lieutenant R.N.R. in Command William J. O'Neill, 8 March, 1916 – 3 August, 1916
• Lieutenant-Commander R.N.R. Cyril S. Durrad, 3 August, 1916 – September 1917^[Inference]
• Lieutenant R.N.R. in Command Joseph K. Chaplin, 22 September, 1917 – 8 February, 1918  (vessel lost under his command)

See Also

• Wikipedia