The official trial of the first-class torpedo boat Hydra (length 130 feet overall; displacement 101 tons) built by Yarrow and Company, Limited, Poplar, for the Dutch Government, took place in late May 1900. The contract speed was 23 knots during a continuous run of three hours, and a speed of 24.3 knots was realised. It was intended that the Hydra was to be the first of two vessels to be sent to the Dutch East Indies to reinforce the naval power of that station.