Acorn-class oil firing within a common design

The Acorn class, redesignated H class in 1913, adapted the economical Beagle approach to oil-fired machinery. The Admiralty preferred the Tribals' use of oil even after the Beagles' return to coal had reduced costs. A central design kept the ships recognisable as sisters able to operate together, while allowing yards to vary machinery and construction details. John Brown's turbine work, J. S. White's boilers and Thornycroft's hull shaping illustrate the different routes to better performance discussed alongside the class. The ships carried 170 tons of oil and were rated at 27 knots. They did not normally need the roughly ten tons of oil that some earlier high-speed destroyers consumed merely to raise steam, making the comparison relevant to routine fuel use as well as capacity.