Thornycroft: Motor Boats
Note: This is a sub-section of Thornycroft
Thomas Thornycroft senior bought land at Chiswick with a view to starting a business building steam-launches
1864 His son, John produced the "Miranda," a steel launch of 58 HP., 45 feet 6 inches long, with a top speed of 16.4 knots. The "Miranda" was quickly followed by other fast launches which were built for service abroad as well as at home.
1866 Thornycroft established his business at Chiswick
1872 John Thornycroft in partnership with his brother-in-law, Mr. John Donaldson, M. Inst. C.E., put forward their high-speed launch to carry Whitehead torpedo.
1875 the Admiralty placed an order for the "Lightning," the first torpedo-boat in the British Navy. She was the first naval vessel to be fitted with the closed-stoke-hold system of forced draught. The “Lightning” was very similar to one of Thornycroft's earlier vessels, the "Gitana," 80 feet in length, which had a speed of 18 knots. The adoption of the torpedo-boat by the British and other navies greatly increased the activities and prosperity of the firm, Sir John devoting most of his attention to design and his partner to administration.
Introduced the water-tube type which were much more reliable than the previous designs based on locomotive engines.
1887 The "Ariete" torpedo-boat was built at Chiswick for Spain achieved 26 knots.
The "Speedy", a torpedo gun-boat of 810 tons, was the first British warship, of any size, to be fitted with water-tube boilers.
The firm supplied the first torpedo-boat destroyer with water-tube boilers to the British Navy, the "Daring"
The "Tartar," was the only one of the oil-fired turbine destroyers to attain a speed of 37.5 knots.
With the increase in the size of destroyers, the yard at Chiswick was not well placed, and the firm moved to more convenient premises at Woolston, Southampton, where numerous destroyers and other craft were built before WWI.
Not only were numerous torpedo-boat destroyers supplied to governments all over the world, but vessels to the Thornycroft designs were built abroad and, with the general adoption of the water-tube boiler, the firm’s design was quickly taken up by Continental and American firms.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Obituary of John Isaac Thornycroft