HMS Thorn was a Clydebank three funnel - 30 knot destroyer purchased by the Royal Navy under the 1899–1900 Naval Estimates.

[3][4] She was laid down as a speculative build yard number 334 at the John Brown and Company shipyard in Clydebank and was launched on 17 March 1900.

[5] On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by alphabetical characters starting with the letter 'A'.

After 30 September 1913, she was known as a C-class destroyer and had the letter 'C' painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.

[7] NOTE: All tabular data under General Characteristics only from the listed Jane's Fighting Ships volume unless otherwise specified