HMS Dove was a three funnel, 30 knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896–1897 Naval Estimates. She was the ninth ship to carry the name. Construction HMS Dove was one of two "thirty-knotter" torpedo boat destroyers ordered by the British Admiralty from the Kingston upon Hull shipyard of Earle's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company as part of the 1896–1897 shipbuilding programme for the Royal Navy, out of a total of 20 destroyers ordered from various builders as part of this programme, consisting of 17 "thirty-knotters" contracted to reach a speed of during sea trials and three builders specials contracted to give higher speeds. As with other early Royal Navy destroyers, the design of Dove was left to the builder, with the Admiralty laying down only broad requirements (although all designs were approved by the Admiralty), rather than the Admiralty ordering ships to a standard design. Dove was long overall and between perpendiculars, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was light and deep load. Four Thornycroft boilers fed steam at to 2 four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines rated at . The boilers' outtakes were routed to three flat-sided funnels. Up to of coal could be carried, giving a range of at . The ship had the standard armament of the Thirty-Knotters, i.e. a QF 12 pounder 12 cwt ( calibre) gun on a platform on the ship's conning tower (in practice the platform was also used as the ship's bridge), with a secondary armament of five 6-pounder guns, and two 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. The ship was manned by 63 officers and men. The ship was laid down on 17 September 1896, at Earle's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited shipyard at Hull, Yorkshire, Construction was delayed by industrial action and Dove was not launched until 21 March 1898. Although she was claimed to have reached during builder's tests, official trials were less successful, and like her sister ship , she failed to reach contract speed, Dove only reaching . Problems with getting these destroyers through their acceptance trials resulted in financial problems for Earle's which resulted in the company's bankruptcy. Dove was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in July 1901. Service history Pre-War After commissioning Dove was assigned to the Channel Fleet, taking part in the 1901 Naval Manoeuvres. Commander Douglas Nicholson was appointed in command on 24 February 1902, and Dove was