HMS Ardent was a Royal Navy 27 knot torpedo boat destroyer ordered from John I Thornycroft & Company under the 1893 – 1894 Naval Estimates.

[1] On 12 October 1893, the British Admiralty placed an order for three torpedo boat destroyers (Ardent, Boxer and Bruizer) with the shipbuilder Thornycroft under the 1893–1894 shipbuilding programme for the Royal Navy as a follow-on to the two prototype destroyers (Daring and Decoy) ordered from Thornycroft under the 1892–1893 programme.

[2][a] The Admiralty did not specify a standard design for destroyers, laying down broad requirements, including a trial speed of 27 knots (31 mph; 50 km/h), a "turtleback" forecastle[b] and armament, which was to vary depending on whether the ship was to be used in the torpedo boat or gunboat role.

[8][9] Ardent was laid down as Yard number 297 in December 1893 at the Thornycroft shipyard at Church Wharf, Chiswick and launched on 16 October 1894 by Mrs C.T.

[8][10][11] During her builder's trials at Maplin Sound on 9 November 1894 the ship achieved an average speed of 29.182 knots on her full power run.

In April 1902 she was on tactical and gunnery exercises with the Mediterranean Fleet,[16] and in September that year she was part of a squadron visiting the Aegean Sea for combined manoeuvres near Nauplia and Souda Bay at Crete.