Design and description
These ships were designed by Sir Edward Reed, the Director of Naval Construction, as replacements for the various gunvessels built for the Crimean War. Being built of green timber, their hulls were starting to rot after a decade or more in service, but their engines were still generally sound. As the older ships were broken up their engines were salvaged and transferred to Beacon-class ships under construction. Combat experience against Chinese fortifications had shown that the single 32-pounder smoothbore armament of the earlier ships was not powerful enough so Reed was directed to prepare a twin-screw, shallow draft design suitable for riverine operations that incorporated a pair of steam engines from the older gunboats, a heavy armament, and enough freeboard to allow for service at sea. These rather contradictory requirements forced Reed to discard traditional wooden framing for these ships and the Beacon class became the first ships of the Royal Navy to be framed in iron with wooden planking. [2]
The ships were 155 feet (47.2 m) long between perpendiculars and had a beam of 25 feet (7.6 m). Forward, the ships had a draught of 7 feet 9 inches (2.4 m), but aft they drew 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m). They displaced 603 long tons (613 t) as built and had a burthen of 464 tons. [3] The depth of hold was 11 feet (3.4 m) and the hull was subdivided by watertight bulkheads. [4] Their crew consisted of 80 officers and enlisted men. [3]
Two different types of engines were used with this class. Twelve ships received two-cylinder horizontal return connecting rod engines built by Maudslay, Sons and Field while the remaining six got two-cylinder horizontal trunk engines from John Penn and Sons. Each engine powered a single 6-foot (1.8 m) propeller. The engines produced between 472 and 641 indicated horsepower (352 and 478 kW) which gave the ships a maximum speed between 9 and 10 knots (17 and 19 km/h; 10 and 12 mph). Three cylindrical boilers provided steam to the engines, although the working pressure varied; the ships with trunk engines used 80 psi (552 kPa ; 6 kgf/cm2 ) while the other engines used 60 psi (414 kPa; 4 kgf/cm2). The ships carried 90 long tons (91 t) of coal although no range figures are available. [3]
To minimise their draught the Beacons were given a very full hull shape with squared-off bilges and a flat bottom. Admiral G. A. Ballard commented that they were built "along the lines of an extremely elongated packing crate." [5] This made them steady gun platforms and gave them quite a bit of buoyancy. If they ran aground, this shape allowed them to be pulled off easily and they remained upright if stranded by a receding tide. However, this hull shape made their steering erratic at low speeds or in a following sea and they made a large amount of leeway in a strong side breeze. [5]
The class was barque rigged and their best speed under sail alone was over 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) if running before the wind, despite the drag of the propellers, which could neither be hoisted out of the water, nor feathered. In a headwind, Ballard described them as "quite unmanageable under sail alone", [6] while Preston claims they "sailed like tea trays". [7] Their funnels were hinged to lower horizontally to reduce wind resistance while under sail. Avon, Dwarf and Elk were re-rigged as barquentines after 1880. A poop deck was added in between commissions to some of the ships, but this was the only major structural change made during their careers. [8]
The ships were initially armed with a mix of 7-inch and 64-pounder 56 cwt [Note 1] rifled muzzle-loading guns and a pair of 20-pounder rifled breechloading guns. The 7-inch (178 mm) and 64-pounder guns were mounted on the centreline as pivot guns while the two 20-pounder guns were mounted at the bow and stern as chase guns. [9] The 16-calibre 7-inch gun weighed 6.5 long tons (6.6 t) and fired a 112-pound (50.8 kg) shell. It was credited with the nominal ability to penetrate 7.7-inch (196 mm) armour. [10] A lighter, 4.5-long-ton (4.6 t), 7-inch gun developed in the 1870s replaced the heavier gun in Avon and Elk. It replaced both heavy guns in Lynx, Hornet, Flirt, and Rocket. [1]
Service
These ships were primarily designed for service in Southeast Asian waters, including the rivers, and most of the ships spent at least one commission there. Hornet, Midge, and Gnat spent their whole careers there. Gnat's service, however, was rather short as she ran aground and was wrecked on Balabac Island, south of the Philippines, less than a year after she was commissioned. Their duties included protecting British lives and property and fighting pirates. Another major deployment area was the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa where Fly, Lynx, Flirt, Dwarf, Beacon, Avon, Pert, Growler, Rocket, Hart, and Boxer all spent part of one or more commissions. Beacon supported British coastal operations during the Third Anglo-Ashanti War in 1873 while most of the others engaged river pirates at various times. Rocket, Elk, Dwarf, Beacon, and Avon served at least one commission off the south-east coast of South America, while Cracker spent her entire career there. Dwarf made a port visit to Asunción, on the Paraguay River, some 600 miles (970 km) from the ocean during one of her tours in the region. Teazer, Lynx, Beacon, and Thistle each made one deployment to the East Indies Station where they helped to suppress the slave trade between East Africa and the Persian Gulf. Beacon, Hart, and Growler were deployed to the Mediterranean where the former participated in the Bombardment of Alexandria in 1882. Fly, Flirt, Boxer, and Pert each spent a commission on fishery patrol on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Boxer was also deployed to British Columbia to maintain order with the Indian tribes there. [11]
By the early 1880s, their engines were becoming worn out and most of the ships were placed into reserve for a few years before being sold for breaking up. The machinery of Avon, Dwarf and Elk was in good enough shape that they were assigned as tenders to the coastguard district ships at Hull, Southampton, and Liverpool for a number of years. Midge was also an exception and was retained in Chinese waters until 1907 when she was sold at Hong Kong. [12] Elk lasted nearly as long in harbour service as she was reclassified as a tugboat in 1890 and was then sold as a dredger in 1905. [3] [13] [Note 2]
Steam frigates and the smaller steam corvettes, steam sloops, steam gunboats and steam schooners, were steam-powered warships that were not meant to stand in the line of battle. The first such ships were paddle steamers. Later on the invention of screw propulsion enabled construction of screw-powered versions of the traditional frigates, corvettes, sloops and gunboats.
HMS Active was a Volage-class corvette built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. Launched in 1869, she entered service in 1873, and was the commodore's ship on the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station. Her crew served ashore in both the Third Anglo-Ashanti and Zulu Wars. From 1885 to 1898, the ship was the flagship of the Training Squadron. Active was sold for scrap in 1906.
HMS Resistance was the second of two Defence-class ironclads built for the Royal Navy in the 1860s. She was the first capital ship in the Royal Navy to be fitted with a ram and was given the nickname of Old Rammo. Resistance was initially assigned to the Channel Fleet upon commissioning, but was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1864, the first ironclad to be assigned to that fleet. She was rearmed in 1867 and became a guardship when recommissioned in 1869. The ship was reassigned to the Channel Fleet in 1873 before reverting to her former duties in 1877. Resistance was decommissioned in 1880 and was used for gunnery and torpedo trials beginning in 1885. The ship was sold for scrap in 1898 and foundered in 1899 en route to the breaker's yard. She was salvaged and later scrapped.
HMS Centurion was a 80-gun second rate Vanguard-class ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1840s.
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HMS Rover was an 18-gun iron screw corvette built for the Royal Navy in the 1870s, the sole ship of her class. The ship was initially assigned to the North America and West Indies Station until she returned home in 1879. She was transferred to the Training Squadron when it formed in 1885. Rover was not really suitable for such a role and she was placed in reserve four years later and then sold for scrap in 1893.
HMS Druid was a Briton-class wooden screw corvette built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. She spent her service life overseas on the Cape of Good Hope and North America and West Indies Stations and was sold for scrap in 1886.
The Philomel-class gunvessel was a class of wooden-hulled screw-driven second-class gunvessels built for the Royal Navy between 1859 and 1867, of which 26 were ordered but only 20 completed. They had a mixed history, with some serving for as little as 5 years, and others surviving into the 1880s. Two of the class were sold and used as Arctic exploration vessels, both eventually being lost in the ice.
The Volage class was a group of two screw corvettes built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. Both ships spent the bulk of their active service abroad. Volage spent most of her first commission assigned to the Detached or Flying Squadron circumnavigating the world and then carried a party of astronomers to the Kerguelen Islands to observe the Transit of Venus in 1874. The ship was then assigned as the senior officer's ship in South American waters until she was transferred to the Training Squadron during the 1880s.
HMS Volage was a Volage-class corvette built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. She spent most of her first commission assigned to the Flying Squadron circumnavigating the world, and later carried a party of astronomers to the Kerguelen Islands to observe the transit of Venus in 1874. The ship was then assigned as the senior officer's ship in South American waters until she was transferred to the Training Squadron during the 1880s. Volage was paid off in 1899 and sold for scrap in 1904.
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The Banterer-class gunboat was a class of eleven gunboats mounting two 6-inch and two 4-inch guns, built for the Royal Navy between 1880 and 1892.
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The Bramble-class gunboat was a type of warship used by the Royal Navy between the 1890s and the 1920s. The four ships of this class were notable as the final development of the Victorian gunboat tradition, and for being one of the last classes of warship designed to travel under sail. One of them, HMS Thistle, retained a functional sailing rig into the mid-1920s.
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Royal Navy