The Salmon class were two destroyers built by Earle's

Earle's Shipbuilding

Earle's Shipbuilding was an engineering company that was based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England from 1845 to 1932.-Earle Brothers:...

 to an Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 specification for service with 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...

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The specification called for a torpedo boat destroyer capable of 27 knots; the builders were largely free to design as necessary. A total of 42 ships would be provided by various shipbuilders.

and were launched in 1895. They displaced 305 tons, were 200 feet long and their Yarrow boilers produced 3,600 hp which gave them the intended top speed of 27 knots. They were armed with one 12 pounder gun and two torpedo tubes. They carried a complement of 53 officers and men.

In May 1912 they were sold for breaking up.

In 1913 all surviving similar vessels built to the same requirement were reclassified as the A class

A class destroyer (1913)

The A class as designated in 1913 was a heterogeneous group of torpedo boat destroyers built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1890s. Some 42 vessels were constructed to the individual designs of their builders to meet Admiralty specifications, the only uniting feature being a specified top speed of...

 torpedo boat destroyers