Fly-class gunboat

Last updated

Tigris gunboat (cropped).jpg
Class overview
NameFly class
Builders Yarrow Shipbuilders
Operators
In service1915–1924
Completed16
Lost3
Retired13
General characteristics
Type River gunboat [1]
Displacement98 long tons (100 t)
Length126 ft (38 m)
Beam20 ft (6.1 m)
Draught2 ft (0.61 m)
Propulsion1 shaft VTE, single yarrow type mixed firing boiler, 175 ihp (130 kW)
Speed9.5 kn (10.9 mph; 17.6 km/h)
Complement22
Armament

The Fly-class river gunboats (or small China gunboats), collectively often referred to as the "Tigris gunboat flotilla", were a class of small well-armed Royal Navy vessels designed to patrol the Tigris river during the Mesopotamian Campaign during the First World War (the China name was to disguise their function). [lower-alpha 1]

Contents

Design

They were fitted with one triple expansion steam engine driving one propeller housed in a tunnel to facilitate a very shallow [2 ft (61 cm)] draught. The boats were designed to be dismantled and re-assembled.

Deployment

The vessels were built by Yarrow Shipbuilders at Scotstoun, Glasgow in 1915 and 1916 and shipped to Abadan in sections where they were assembled. They served with the Royal Navy patrolling the Tigris River until being transferred to the Army during 1918. They were sold off beginning 1923.

The Ottomans captured Firefly in December 1915 after she grounded and a shell through her boiler disabled her; her crew was evacuated. The Ottomans took her into service as Suleiman Pak. HMS Tarantula recaptured her at the Battle of Nahr-al-Kalek on 26 February 1917. [2]

Vessels

Vessels with the prefix "HM Gunboat"

See also

Notes

  1. The Insect-class gunboats were "large China gunboats".

Citations

  1. Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 405.
  2. Perrett 2000, pp. 150–151, 155.

Related Research Articles

HNLMS <i>Jacob van Heemskerck</i> (1939) Royal Netherlands Navy light cruiser

HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck was the second and last of the Tromp-class light cruisers of the Royal Netherlands Navy, named after Admiral Jacob van Heemskerk (1567–1607).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romanian Naval Forces</span> Military unit

The Romanian Navy is the navy branch of the Romanian Armed Forces; it operates in the Black Sea and on the Danube. It traces its history back to 1860.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River gunboat</span> Gunboat adapted for river operations

A river gunboat is a type of gunboat adapted for river operations. River gunboats required shallow draft for river navigation. They would be armed with relatively small caliber cannons, or a mix of cannons and machine guns. If they carried more than one cannon, one might be a howitzer, for shore bombardment. They were usually not armoured. The fictional USS San Pablo described in Richard McKenna's The Sand Pebbles is an example of this class of vessel, serving on the US Navy's Yangtze Patrol. Stronger river warships with larger guns were river monitors.

USS <i>Cairo</i> American Civil War ironclad warship

USS Cairo is one of the first American ironclad warships built at the beginning of the U.S. Civil War.

USS <i>B-3</i> B-class submarine of the United States

USS B-3 (SS-12) was one of three B-class submarines built for the United States Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

USS <i>Pampanga</i> (PG-39) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Pampanga (PG-39) was a schooner-rigged iron gunboat in the United States Navy during the Philippine–American War. She retained her Spanish name.

USS <i>Stewart</i> (DD-224) Clemson-class destroyer

USS Stewart (DD-224) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the second ship named for Rear Admiral Charles Stewart. Scuttled in port at Surabaya, Java, she was later raised by the Japanese and commissioned as Patrol Boat No. 102. She came back under American control in 1945 after the occupation of Japan.

Insect-class gunboat Class of Royal Navy littoral ships

The Insect-class gunboats were a class of small, but well-armed Royal Navy ships designed for use in shallow rivers or inshore. They were intended for use on the Danube against Austria-Hungary. The first four ships—Gnat, Mantis, Moth and Tarantula—were first employed during the Mesopotamian Campaign of the First World War on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

HMS <i>Gnat</i> (T60) Insect class gunboat of the Royal Navy

HMS Gnat was a Royal Navy Insect-class gunboat. She was built by Lobnitz and launched in 1915. Gnat saw service during the First World War as part of a flotilla operating on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. After the war, the vessel was transferred to China, where in 1927, Gnat took part in the Nanking Incident. Gnat began the Second World War still in China, but was towed to the Mediterranean Sea in 1940. There, the gunboat took part in an assault on Tobruk before being torpedoed by a German submarine. Though Gnat did not sink, and was beached at Alexandria, Egypt where the vessel was used as an anti-aircraft platform. The vessel was declared a constructive total loss and scrapped in 1945.

HMS <i>Cricket</i> (1915) Royal Navy Insect-class gunboat

HMSCricket was a Royal Navy Insect-class gunboat. She was built by Barclay Curle and launched on 17 December 1915.

USS <i>Blakely</i> (TB-27) Torpedo boat of the United States Navy

The first USS Blakely was laid down on 12 January 1899 at South Boston, Massachusetts, by George Lawley & Son and launched on 22 November 1900. Sponsored by Miss Nellie M. White; and commissioned on 27 December 1904. It was named for Johnston Blakeley, commander of USS Wasp.

USS <i>Elcano</i> Gunboat

USS Elcano (PG-38) was a gunboat that the United States Navy captured from the Spanish Navy during the Spanish–American War. She was officially commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1902. She served for many years in the Yangtze Patrol where she saw action against pirates and warlords. She served until decommissioning in 1928, when she was sunk for target practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floating battery</span>

A floating battery is a kind of armed watercraft, often improvised or experimental, which carries heavy armament but has few other qualities as a warship.

Japanese corvette <i>Amagi</i>

Amagi was a screw sloop in the early Imperial Japanese Navy, and was the third vessel built by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal after its acquisition by the Meiji government. When built, Amagi was the largest warship yet produced domestically in Japan. Amagi was named after the Mount Amagi, in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.

USS <i>Quiros</i> (PG-40) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Quiros (PG-40), previously designated Gunboat No. 40, was a United States Navy gunboat in commission from 1900 to 1904, from 1904 to 1908, and from 1910 to 1923, seeing service in the Philippines and China. Prior to her U.S. Navy service, she was in commission in the Spanish Navy from 1896 to 1898 as Quirós, seeing service during the Philippine Revolution and the Spanish–American War.

Japanese gunboat <i>Banjō</i>

Banjō was a steam gunboat, serving in the early Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was named after a mountain in Shizuoka prefecture.

HMS <i>Exe</i> (1903) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Exe was a River-class destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1901–1902 Naval Estimates. Named after the River Exe in southern England flowing through Exeter in the County of Devon, she was the first ship to carry this name in the Royal Navy. She served on the China Station before World War I and in the North Sea during the war. She was sold in 1920.

HMS Dee was a Palmer Type River Class Destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1901–1902 Naval Estimates. Named after the River Dee near Liverpool, England, she was the fourth ship to carry this name since it was introduced in 1814 for a 20-gun 6th rate sold in 1819.

HMS <i>Tarantula</i> Gunboat of the Royal Navy

HMS Tarantula was an Insect-class gunboat of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1915, the gunboat saw service in both the First and Second World Wars. Tarantula served with the Tigris flotilla in 1916, retaking a former British gunboat that had previously been captured by the Ottoman Empire. After the First World War, Tarantula was towed to China, joining the China Station, eventually ending up at Trincomalee, Ceylon during the Second World War. After the end of the war, the vessel was sunk as a gunnery target in the Bay of Bengal in 1946.

The Romanian Danube Flotilla is the oldest extant naval force on the Danube, dating since 1860, when the Romanian Navy was founded. It saw service during most of the wars involving Romania, and was the most powerful river naval force in the world during the Interwar period.

References