- Sources
{{other ships|HMS Lightning}}{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}{{more citations needed|date =July 2011}}{{Infobox ship image| Ship image=HMS Lightning - Torpedo Boat 1877.jpg | Ship caption=HMS Lightning - illustration from Scientific American.
}}{{Infobox ship career | Hide header= | Ship country=United Kingdom | Ship flag= | Ship name= | Ship namesake= | Ship owner= | Ship operator= | Ship registry= | Ship route= | Ship ordered= | Ship awarded= | Ship builder=John I. Thornycroft & Company | Ship original cost= | Ship yard number= | Ship way number= | Ship laid down= | Ship launched=1876 | Ship sponsor= | Ship christened= | Ship completed= | Ship acquired= | Ship commissioned= | Ship recommissioned= | Ship decommissioned= | Ship maiden voyage= | Ship in service= | Ship out of service= | Ship renamed=Torpedo Boat No. 1 | Ship reclassified= | Ship refit= | Ship struck= | Ship reinstated= | Ship homeport= | Ship identification= | Ship motto= | Ship nickname= | Ship honours= | Ship honors= | Ship captured= | Ship fate=Scrapped, 1896 | Ship status= | Ship notes= | Ship badge=
}}{{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header= | Header caption= | Ship class=Torpedo boat | Ship type= | Ship tonnage= | 32.5|LT|t}} | Ship tons burthen= | 87|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} | 10|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}} | Ship height= | 5|ft|2|in|m|abbr=on}} | Ship draft= | Ship depth= | Ship hold depth= | Ship decks= | Ship deck clearance= | Ship ramps= | Ship ice class= | Ship power= | 460|hp|kW|abbr=on}} | Ship sail plan= | 18.5|kn|km/h|abbr=on}} | Ship range= | Ship endurance= | Ship test depth= | Ship boats= | Ship capacity= | Ship troops= | Ship complement= | Ship crew= | Ship time to activate= | Ship sensors= | Ship EW= | Ship armament=*2 × 14 inch Whitehead torpedoes | Ship armour= | Ship armor= | Ship aircraft= | Ship aircraft facilities= | Ship notes=
}} | HMS Lightning was a torpedo boat, built by John Thornycroft at Church Wharf in Chiswick for the Royal Navy, which entered service in 1876 and was the first seagoing vessel to be armed with self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. She was later renamed Torpedo Boat No. 1.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} As originally built, Lightning had two drop collars to launch torpedoes; these were replaced in 1879 by a single torpedo tube in the bow. She also carried two reload torpedoes amidships.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} The Lightning spent her life as a tender to the torpedo school HMS Vernon at Portsmouth and was used for some experiments. She was broken up in 1896.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} Sources - Chesneau, Roger and Eugène Kolesnik, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-85177-133-5}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lightning (1877)}} 3 : Torpedo boats of the Royal Navy|Ships built in Chiswick|1876 ships |