Design and construction
The construction used iron frames, with wooden cladding around the frames. These were two-decked ships, with the ordnance on the upper deck and accommodation on the main deck below. They were designed to carry the same armament of fourteen 64-pdr guns as the preceding Amethyst class corvettes from which their design was developed, with two of the guns mounted on rotating slides as bow and stern chasers, and the other twelve guns slide-mounted on the broadsides.
However, only Opal was so completed, and two of her broadside guns were removed following her first commission. Tourmaline was built with the same number of ports, but with only ten broadside guns vice twelve (plus the two chase guns). The other four vessels were completed with this ordnance (two chasers and ten broadside guns, without ports for a sixth pair of broadside guns) - all these guns being of the 64cwt model. In the early 1880s Tourmaline and Emerald were re-armed with four 6-inch (100-pdr) and eight 5-inch (50-pdr) breach-loader guns.
HMS Australia was one of seven Orlando-class armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1880s. She was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1889 and remained there until 1893 when she returned home. The ship was assigned to the Coast Guard Squadron for the next decade before she was placed in reserve in 1903. Australia was sold for scrap in 1905.
The Swiftsure class battleships of the late Victorian era were broadside ironclads designed and built specifically for service as Flagships on the Pacific station.
HMS Ajax was the name ship of her class of ironclad battleships built for the Royal Navy during the 1870s. Completed in 1883, she was immediately placed in reserve until 1885 when the ship was commissioned for the first time. Later that year, Ajax was assigned as a coast guard ship in Scotland and remained there for the next six years. She was reduced to reserve again in 1891 and was taken out of service a decade later. The ship was sold for scrap in 1904 and subsequently broken up.
HMS Howe was an Admiral-class ironclad battleship built for the Royal Navy during the 1880s. The ship was assigned to the Channel Fleet in mid-1890 and was badly damaged when she ran aground in late 1892. After repairs were completed, Howe was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in late 1893. She returned home in late 1896 and became a guardship in Ireland. Howe remained there until late 1901 when she was assigned to the Reserve Fleet. The ship was paid off in three years later and then sold for scrap in 1910.
HMS Immortalité was one of seven Orlando-class armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1880s. She was sold for scrap on 11 January 1907.
HMS Aurora was one of seven Orlando-class armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1880s. The ship spent a brief time in reserve before she was assigned to the Channel Squadron for two years in 1890. In 1893 Aurora became a coast guard ship in Ireland for two years before she was placed in reserve again. The ship recommissioned in 1899 for service on the China Station and some of her crew participated in the Battle of Tientsin in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion. Aurora returned home two years later and was again reduced to reserve. She was taken out of service in 1905 and sold for scrap on 2 October 1907.
HMS Thames was a Mersey-class protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the 1880s. The ship was placed in reserve upon her completion in 1888 and was converted into a submarine depot ship in 1903. She was sold out of the navy in 1920 and was purchased by a South African businessman to serve as a training ship for naval cadets under the name SATS General Botha. The ship arrived in South Africa in 1921 and began training her first class of cadets in Simon's Town the following year. General Botha continued to train cadets for the first several years of World War II, but the RN took over the ship in 1942 for use as an accommodation ship under her original name. She was scuttled by gunfire in 1947 and is now a diveable wreck.
The Amazon class was a class of six screw sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1865 and 1866.
HMS Cormorant was an Osprey-class sloop launched at Chatham on 12 September 1877 and later the receiving ship at Gibraltar. She was renamed Rooke in 1946 and broken up in 1949.
The Eclipse class was a class of seven 6-gun wooden screw sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1867 and 1870. They were re-armed and re-classified as 12-gun corvettes in 1876. Two further vessels were proposed but never ordered.
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.
HMS Opal was an Emerald-class corvette of the Royal Navy, laid down as Magicienne by William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland and launched on 9 March 1875.
HMS Conway was a Conway-class sixth rate of the Royal Navy, built by Chatham Dockyard and launched on 2 February 1832. She was lent to the Mercantile Marine Association of Liverpool in February 1859 to act as a training ship for boys, and gave her name to HMS Conway, ultimately a series of three ships and then from 1964-74 a shore-based school. When Winchester took her place as the training ship in 1861, the two ships swapped names. Under her new name of Winchester she became the Aberdeen Royal Naval Reserve ship on 28 August 1861.
The Amethyst-class corvettes were a class of the last wooden warships to be built for the British Royal Navy; each was built at a Royal Dockyard. Three were ordered under the 1871-72 Programme and two under the 1872-73 Programme. Built in the early and middle 1870s, they mostly served overseas and were retired early as they were regarded as hopelessly obsolete by the late 1880s. She served alongside HMS Shah in the action against the Peruvian warship Huascar on 29th May 1877.
The Arab-class gunvessels were a pair of composite gunboats built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1870s.
HMS Arab was an Arab-class composite gunvessel built for the Royal Navy in 1874. She served in the East Indies and was sold in 1889.
HMS Lily was an Arab-class composite gunvessel built for the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1874, saw service in Chinese and North American waters, and was wrecked on the coast of Labrador on 16 September 1889.
Hai'an, originally named Zhen'an, was a wooden steam powered frigate built for the Imperial Chinese Navy. She was the lead ship of the Hai'an class, which consisted of her and her sister Yuyuen. They were the largest vessels built in China until the 1930s; they each ran over budget and used sub-standard building materials which limited their use. Hai'an was initially used as a training ship, and later saw action in the Sino-French War as a potential blockship, being scrapped as a hulk following the war.
HMS Garnet was a Emerald-class composite screw corvette that served in the Victorian Royal Navy. The Emerald class was a development of the wooden Amethyst class but combined an iron frame and teak cladding. Launched in 1877, Garnet was commissioned for service off the coast of America. Between 1878 and 1880, the corvette was commanded by the future Admiral of the Fleet, James Erskine. In 1887, the vessel was deployed on anti-slavery patrols on the Mediterranean Sea and subsequently served in an anti-slavery blockade under the Bacchante classBoadicea. In 1891, the ship operated off the coast of Chile during their Civil War and undertook an unsuccessful search for the crew of the merchant ship Marlborough. The vessel was paid off in 1895 and, in 1899, converted to a coal hulk. In 1904, Garnet was retired and sold to be broken up.
HMS Tourmaline was a Emerald-class composite screw corvette that served in the Victorian Royal Navy. The Emerald class was a development of the wooden Amethyst class but combined an iron frame and teak cladding. Launched in 1875, Tourmaline was deployed to the North America and West Indies Station in 1878. The ship joined the third flying squadron in 1880, sailing to South Africa at time of the First Boer War and then to Australia, Japan, Singapore and Egypt, arriving in Alexandria in time to participate in the Anglo-Egyptian War. During 1883, the corvette was stationed in Zanzibar and then, in response to the Franco-Hova Wars, was the senior officer's ship in Madagascar. Following an armament upgrade, the vessel returned to the North America and West Indies Station in 1886. Converted to a coal hulk in 1899, Tourmaline was sold in 1920 to be broken up.
Royal Navy 