HMS Whiting (1896)

HMS Whiting was a Palmer three funnel, 30 knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896 – 1897 Naval Estimates. She was the fifth ship to carry this name.

Construction
She was laid down on 13 April 1896 at the Palmer shipyard at Jarrow-on-Tyne and launched on 26 August 1896. During her builder’s trials she made her contracted speed requirement. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in June 1897.

Pre-War
On 26 June 1897 she was present at the Royal Naval Review at Spithead in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. In 1897 she was deployed to the China Station and remained there for the rest of her service life.

On 17 June 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion in China, she and HMS Fame (1896) were involved in operations against the Taku forts and Chinese destroyers. This resulted in the capture of four Chinese destroyers including Hai Lung (renamed HMS Taku).

In July 1904 complaints from Vice-Admiral Noel, Commander of China Station, about the condition of his torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers prompted a review of his assets by First Lord of the Admiralty, Admiral Selborne. It was noted that she was tender to Humber, her boilers had been re-tubed and her hull and machinery had been refitted in 1903.

During the summer of 1911 she was at Nanking during the Revolution in China and from there she moved on to Kiu Kiang and Hankow.

On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by alpha characters starting with the letter 'A'. Since her design speed was 30-knots and she had three funnels she was assigned to the C class. After 30 September 1913, she was known as an C-class destroyer and had the letter ‘C’ painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.

World War I
In August 1914 she was on the disposal list but with the commencement of Hostilities she remained on China Station for the duration of the First World War.

On 5 January 1915 General Officer Commanding Hong Kong came on board Triumph to witness two night attacks made by 'Whiting and HMS Otter (1896); these were primarily designed for training of the searchlight crews of Triumph.

Disposition
In 1919 she was paid off and laid-up in reserve awaiting disposal. Whiting was sold for breaking on 27 November 1919 in Hong Kong.

She was awarded the Battle Honour "China 1900" for her participation in operations during the Chinese Boxer Rebellion.

Pennant number
It is unknown if she was assigned a pennant number in December 1914 as no record has been found. ||From||To