The A class as designated in 1913 was a heterogeneous group of torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) 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 27 knots (50 km/h).

All of the "26-knotters" and most of the "27-knotters" had been lost or scrapped before the 1913 classification (and so – strictly speaking – never survived to become 'A' class), but for convenience all 42 ships are listed below.

[1] The six 1892–93 Programme ships initially had a third tube in the bow, fixed to fire straight ahead, but this was found to weigh down the bows and it was possible for the ship to run over its own torpedo when moving at high speed, so these were later removed and this feature was not repeated in later vessels.

The initial Estimates contained a sum of about £651,000 for payments on fourteen vessels, but the postponement of the First Class cruiser programme for that year allowed twenty-five destroyers to be ordered in that year, with the balance of eleven vessels funded under the 1894–95 Estimates (but still under the 1893–94 Programme).