H.M.S. Spitfire (1895)

H.M.S. Spitfire (1895)
Builder:	Armstrong^[1]
Ordered:	1893-94^[2]
Laid down:	4 Jun, 1894^[3]
Launched:	7 Jun, 1895^[4]
Commissioned:	Nov, 1896^[5]
Broken up:	1912^[6]

H.M.S. Spitfire was one of forty-two "A" class destroyers built for the Royal Navy — a "27 knotter".

Service

Like many of her sisters, she was broken up before the war.

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

Lieutenant & Commander Thomas F. T. Michell, 18 February, 1899 – 14 June, 1899 (indicated in one Navy List as Salmon)
Lieutenant in Command John Luce, 13 June, 1899^[7] – before 24 August, 1899^[8]
Lieutenant (in Command?) Colin K. MacLean, 14 August, 1903 – 15 September, 1903
Lieutenant in Command Humphrey T. Walwyn, 14 July, 1904^[9] – 3 January, 1905 (for manoeuvres)
Lieutenant & Commander Cecil H. Pilcher, 3 January, 1905 – 14 March, 1905
Commander James R. P. Hawksley, 11 July, 1905^[10] – 3 September, 1905^[11]
Lieutenant & Commander Robert J. Buchanan, 4 September, 1905^[12] – 1 January, 1906^[13]
Gunner in Command John Reep, 23 January, 1906 – 1 April, 1906
Lieutenant in Command Osmond J. Prentis, 1 April, 1906^[14] – 28 May, 1906^[15]
Lieutenant & Commander William F. Benwell, 28 May, 1906^[16]^[17] – 22 June, 1906^[18] (left, sick with neuritis)
Lieutenant & Commander Vaughan A. E. Hanning-Lee, 28 May, 1906^[19] – 10 July, 1906 (assumed command after Benwell's illness)
Lieutenant & Commander Leonard Robinson, 10 July, 1907^[20] – 15 January, 1909
Lieutenant in Command George W. Taylor, 30 March, 1909^[21] – 26 November, 1909^[22]
Lieutenant & Commander Henry C. Rawlings, 26 November, 1909^[23]^[24] – May, 1910^[25]
Lieutenant & Commander Frederic A. H. Russel, May, 1910^[26] – 1 March, 1911^[27]
Lieutenant & Commander Anthony W. Loveband, 1 March, 1911^[28]

Equipment

In 1896, Swordfish and Spitfire were fitted with Tower's Steady Platform search lights which proved "very satisfactory,"^[29] having been improved since 1889 evaluations. In tests at Chatham on 13th October, 1896, Spitfire was moored in basin number 3 and rolled about 25 degrees while she shone her light on a hatch-painted test vessel. The light beam did not waver by more than a half degree during the test.^[30]