I've run into some problems with my scratchbuild of the minesweeper USS Hazard due to lack of reference material, so have decided to start an additional scratchbuild project, of a ship which I have much better references for. This is the Royal Navy torpedo boat destroyer HMTBD (or HMS)
Velox, built in 1904.
I started this about a month ago, so the photos shown aren't totally up-to-date, on the other hand I haven't found any time to work on this model in the last couple of weeks so it hasn't progressed a huge amount since the photos were taken!
The plans I'm building it from are those included in David Lyon's book "The First Destroyers", published by Chatham (this book is widely available, and inexpensive - about £10-15, or even less second-hand). They consist of a fold-out sheet in 1/96 scale, with hull lines and cross-sections on the reverse, and are very detailed. I haven't managed to find much in the way of other reference material (e.g contemporary photos) for
Velox, but the plans in the book include virtually all the detail needed to build a model of the ship in 1/96 or smaller. The book also includes perspective and cutaway drawings of HMS
Havock, which has many common fittings and design elements (though it's a completely different design, from a different shipyard) which is also a useful source of reference.
HMTBD
Velox ("swift/fleet" in Latin) was completed by Parsons/Hawthorn Leslie in 1904 (laid down in 1901). It was a one-off design with an unconventional engine/boiler arrangement (including reciprocating engines added for cruising) and was not very efficient in terms of speed and fuel consumption. Outwardly, however, it's a very typical and representative example of a turn-of-the-century Royal Navy TBD. (I'm not sure why exactly the author chose this particular ship as the subject for the book plans - perhaps it was the most straightforward or cheapest to obtain plans for; the NMM hold many plans of TBDs, but are known to charge very high amounts for commercial use of their plans)
The ship remained in service until 1915 when it was sunk by a mine, off the coast of the Isle of Wight. In 1913 it was grouped into the "C-class" of destroyers, which basically comprised all the old TBDs with 3 funnels and a maximum speed of 30 knots. This "class" included a very wide assortment of ships from different yards, dating from the 1890s to the early 1900s, including Velox's near-sister HMS Viper. The best Internet reference I've found for these is on Wikipedia:
linkJane's WW1 Fighting Ships also has some information.
I don't know what if any modifications were made to the ship between 1904 and 1915, but my model will represent the ship in 1904 fit, as depicted in the plans. As built, its armament consisted of two torpedo tubes (on rotating mounts aft - there was no bow torpedo tube, as found on some other TBDs), two 12-pounder guns, and four 6-pounder guns. Measuring about 210ft with a beam of 21ft, its total displacement was 445 tons.
Presumably the ship was painted overall grey in WW1 - as built (and as seen on the cover of Lyon's book)it was overall black with the turtleback painted in light grey and the vent interiors red. This is the paint scheme I'll be using.
The ship was originally referred to as HMTBD (His Majesty's Torpedo Boat Destroyer)
Velox when built, but I think the prefix "HMS" was adopted for TBDs fairly soon after this - certainly by WW1 it's referred to as HMS Velox. I'll be referring to it as "HMTBD" to avoid confusion with the later HMS Velox - a V&W-class destroyer which served in both WW1 and WW2.
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FAQ
) It isn't too hard to display models like this on a largeish bookshelf. HMVS Cerberus is currently sitting at one end on a 160mm-long shelf, with space at the other end for USS Hazard and HMS Velox once they're completed. The shelf below it (same length, slightly wider) has my collection of 1/72 torpedo boats and small craft - only 5 so far (including a LCVP) but with space for at least 6-7 more.
