Six-funnel HMS Viking tests speed and heavy guns

Palmers' sole 1907 Tribal, Viking, had six boilers, six funnels, Parsons turbines, and three shafts. She averaged 33.4 knots across all-weather trials rather than merely reaching that speed in ideal conditions. Viking survived a mine strike in January 1916, while her attempts to use an explosive anti-submarine sweep were generally unsuccessful. A 1916 experiment made Viking and Swift the only Royal Navy destroyers discussed as carrying six-inch guns, but the weapon proved too large and Viking returned to four-inch armament. At the Dover Strait action her forward four-inch gun suffered an explosion after intense firing. The casualty prompted mounting changes because equipment designed around intermittent anti-ship fire had not tolerated the sustained rate possible during bombardment.