Grace's Guide
British Industrial History
Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 148,518 pages of information and 233,949 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.
HMS Hecla
From Graces Guide
1878 HMS Hecla was built and engined by Messrs. Harland and Wolff of Belfast for the Atlantic trade, in 1878, but was subsequently purchased and adapted by the Government as a twin-screw torpedo depot ship - i.e. a ship intended to accompany a torpedo flotilla to sea, carrying on her deck a number of torpedo boats and their equipment, together with a full complement of stores for mining and countermining.
The armament consists of four 64-pound muzzle loaders, one 40 pound and one 5in. breech-loader, eight machine guns, and four fixed torpedo tubes.
1885 During the naval manoeuvres the Hecla proved her role by repairing the various torpedo boats which came to grief.