HMS Gala was a Yarrow-designed River-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy, ordered under the 1903–1904 Naval Estimates. She was the first Royal Navy vessel to bear this name. The ship was laid down on 1 February 1904 at Yarrow's shipyard in Poplar, London, and launched on 7 January 1905. Completed by June 1905, Gala was delivered to Chatham Dockyard and commissioned shortly thereafter. Measuring approximately 231 feet 3 inches (70.49 meters) in overall length, with a beam of 23 feet 6 inches (7.16 meters) and a draught of 7 feet 2½ inches (2.20 meters), Gala displaced around 590 long tons light and up to 660 long tons at full load. Her propulsion system consisted of four Yarrow water-tube boilers feeding two sets of four-cylinder triple expansion steam engines, rated at 7,500 indicated horsepower. This machinery enabled her to reach a sea trial speed of 25.9 knots, exceeding the contracted 25.5 knots. The vessel’s original armament included one QF 12-pounder 12 cwt gun, five 6-pounder guns, and two 18-inch torpedo tubes, similar to earlier 30-knotter destroyers. Between 1907 and 1908, her armament was upgraded by replacing the five 6-pounder guns with three QF 12-pounder guns, two placed on the forecastle for better dryness and one aft, following lessons learned from the Russo-Japanese War. Gala initially served with the Reserve Destroyer Division at Sheerness, later transferring to Portland as the Senior Officer's ship of the Second Destroyer Division. By December 1906, she was listed as in commission with a nucleus crew at Portsmouth, and subsequently assigned to the East Coast Destroyer Flotilla based at Harwich. Her service was cut short when, on 28 April 1908, Gala was accidentally sunk in a collision with the cruiser Attentive during night manoeuvres. The collision caused Gala to be struck amidship by Attentive's ram, splitting her in two. Despite efforts to tow the wreckage to shallow water, both sections sank, resulting in the loss of only one crew member. This incident marked a notable event in the vessel’s short service history.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.