The Laforey class (redesignated in October 1913 as the L class) was a class

Ship class

A ship class is a group of ships of a similar design. This is distinct from a ship-type, which might reflect a similarity of tonnage or intended use. For example, the is a nuclear aircraft carrier of the Nimitz class....

 of 22 torpedo boat destroyers of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, twenty of which were built under the Naval Programme of 1912 - 1913 and a further two under the War Emergency Programme of 1914. As such they were the last pre-war British destroyer design. All served during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 during which three were lost. As was previous Royal Navy practice, these ships were originally allocated names with no particular systematic theme. However, whilst still building in 1913 they were allocated to the L class and were given new names beginning with the class letter, the first ships to follow this new convention (see naming conventions for destroyers of the Royal Navy

Naming conventions for destroyers of the Royal Navy

The first Torpedo Boat Destroyer in the Royal Navy was HMS Havock of 1893. From 1906, the term "Torpedo Boat Destroyer" began to appear in the shortened form "Destroyer" when referring to Destroyer Flotillas...

).

Hull

The Laforeys were based on the modified Acasta-class destroyer

Acasta class destroyer

The Acasta class was a class of twenty destroyers built for the Royal Navy under the Naval Programme of 1911 - 1912 that saw service during World War I...

  that trialled a new hull form that was slightly longer and narrower than that of the Acastas and incorporated a clipper bow. Except Laurel, Liberty, Lark, Landrail, Laverock and Linnet which had two funnels, all the ships had three funnels of equal height, the middle being thicker than the fore and aft.

Armament

Armament was increased over the Acastas, with the number of torpedo tubes doubled to two pairs - abaft the funnels - with a small searchlight platform in between. The gun armament remained as three QF 4 inch, but was more usefully distributed; with one gun each on the forecastle

Forecastle

Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters...

, between the funnels (the after pair in ships with three) and on the quarterdeck

Quarterdeck

The quarterdeck is that part of a warship designated by the commanding officer for official and ceremonial functions. In port, the quarterdeck is the most important place on the ship, and is the central control point for all its major activities. Underway, its importance diminishes as control of...

.

Propulsion

Laforey and Leonidas were fitted with geared (as opposed to direct drive) steam turbine

Steam turbine

A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....

s for increased efficiency. Lochinvar, Llewellyn and Lennox were the first destroyers built for the Royal Navy at William Beardmore's

William Beardmore and Company

William Beardmore and Company was a Scottish engineering and shipbuilding conglomerate based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area. It was active between about 1890 and 1930 and at its peak employed about 40,000 people...

 new naval construction yard at Dalmuir

Dalmuir

Dalmuir is an area on the western side of Clydebank, in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland.-Location:It is neighboured by the village of Old Kilpatrick, the Mountblow and Parkhall areas of Clydebank, as well as the town centre...

.

Minelayer

Legion was later fitted for minelaying

Minelayer

Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...

, for which purposes her quarterdeck gun and torpedo tubes were removed and screens were erected aft of the after funnel to provide protection for mines. The screens were painted with dummy torpedo tubes and a gun so as not to identify her as a minelayer.

Service

At the outbreak of World War I the Laforeys formed the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla. Lance is credited as having fired the first shot of the naval war when, in company with the flotilla leader

Flotilla leader

A flotilla leader was a warship suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships, typically a small cruiser or a large destroyer...

 , she sank the German

Kaiserliche Marine

The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...

 auxiliary minelayer

Minelayer

Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...

  the day after war was declared, on 5 August 1914 in the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

. The particular gun concerned is preserved at the Imperial War Museum

Imperial War Museum

Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Two months later on 17 October 1914, off the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 island of Texel

Texel

Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...

, Lance, Legion, Lennox and Loyal engaged German torpedo boat

Torpedo boat

A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...

s and sank S115, S117, S118 and S119 during the Battle off Texel

Battle off Texel

The Battle off Texel, also known as the Action off Texel or the Action of 17 October 1914, was a naval battle off the coast of the Dutch island of Texel during the First World War where a British squadron consisting of one light cruiser and four destroyers on a routine patrol encountered the...

. Lydiard (acting as flotilla leader), with Landrail, Laurel and Liberty were present at the Battle of Jutland

Battle of Jutland

The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...

 on 31 May / 1 June 1916 as part of the 9th and 10th Destroyer Flotillas.

Ships

Name	Ship Builder	|Launched	|Fate
(ex-Sarpedon)	Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend Wallsend Wallsend is an area in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. Wallsend derives its name as the location of the end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 42,842.-Romans:...	5 June 1913	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Florizel)	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a British shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the... , Govan Govan Govan is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick....	28 March 1913	Mined and sunk in English Channel English Channel The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...  off Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea is a small town, port and seaside resort in West Sussex, England. Shoreham-by-Sea railway station is located less than a mile from the town centre and London Gatwick Airport is away...  23 March 1917
(ex-Daring)	John I. Thornycroft & Company Limited, Woolston	25 February 1914	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Hotspur)	Yarrow & Company, Scotstoun Scotstoun Scotstoun is a historic district of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Yoker and Knightswood to the west, Victoria Park, Broomhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde to the south...	7 February 1914	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Haughty)	Yarrow	26 May 1913	Sold for scrapping 1923
(ex-Magic)	William Beardmore & Company, Dalmuir Dalmuir Dalmuir is an area on the western side of Clydebank, in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland.-Location:It is neighboured by the village of Old Kilpatrick, the Mountblow and Parkhall areas of Clydebank, as well as the town centre...	24 August 1915	Torpedoed or mined and sunk off Maas Light Ship Maas Maas is the name, in English borrowed from the Dutch language, of a river that is also named Meuse , in English borrowed from French language. The practical use in English may be influenced by the context at a lower or upper stream location....  by German Kaiserliche Marine The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...  U-boat U-boat U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...  13 August 1916
(ex-Redgauntlet)	J. Samuel White & Company, Cowes Cowes Cowes is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...	6 May 1913	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Hereward)	Yarrow	19 November 1913	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Ivanhoe)	Fairfield	30 October 1913	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Viola)	William Denny & Brothers Limited, Dumbarton	3 February 1914	Sold for scrapping 1921,
(ex-Portia)	Beardmore	17 March 1914	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Rob Roy)	Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company was a British engineering company based in Wallsend, North England, on the River Tyne.-History:The company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1897 with £500,000 of capital, and specialised in building the steam turbine engines that he had invented for... , Wallsend Wallsend Wallsend is an area in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. Wallsend derives its name as the location of the end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 42,842.-Romans:... , hull sub-contracted to Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn Hebburn Hebburn is a small town situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in North East England, sandwiched between the towns of Jarrow and Bill Quay... )	30 October 1913	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Rosalind)	White	15 September 1913	Ssold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Havock)	Yarrow	16 August 1913	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Picton)	Beardmore	30 October 1913	Sold for scrapping 1922
(ex-Malice)	Beardmore	9 October 1915	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Dragon)	Thornycroft	27 April 1914	Sold for scrapping 1922
(ex-Talisman)	Fairfield	30 December 1913	Wrecked in Suvla Bay 31 October 1915 and destroyed by Turkish Ottoman Empire The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries... coastal artillery
(ex-Orlando)	Denny	11 November 1913	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Rocket)	Parsons (hull sub-contracted to Hawthorn Leslie)	29 December 1913	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Waverley)	Hawthorn Leslie	26 February 1914	Sold for scrapping 1921
(ex-Ulysses)	Swan Hunter	18 August 1913	Sold for scrapping 1922