HMS Dragon (1878)

Last updated

HMS Dragon (1878).jpg
Dragon in white paint for service in the East Indies
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameHMS Dragon
Builder Devonport Royal Dockyard
CostHull £36,427, machinery £13,069 [1]
Laid down26 April 1877
Launched30 May 1878
Commissioned19 February 1879
FateSold on 24 September 1892 for breaking
General characteristics [1]
Class and type Doterel-class sloop
Displacement1,130 tons
Length170 ft (52 m) pp
Beam36 ft (11 m)
Draught15 ft 9 in (4.80 m)
Installed power1,006  ihp (750 kW)
Propulsion
  • 3 x cylindrical boilers
  • 2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine
  • Single screw
Sail plan Barque rigged
Speed11+12 knots (21.3 km/h)
Range1,480 nmi (2,740 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h) from 150 tons of coal
Complement140–150
Armament

HMS Dragon was a Doterel-class sloop of the Royal Navy, built at Devonport Dockyard and launched on 30 May 1878. [1] She served in the East Indies, including the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882, and the suppression of slavery. She was sold for breaking in 1892.

Contents

Design

The Doterel class was designed by Nathaniel Barnaby as a development of William Henry White's 1874 Osprey-class sloop. The graceful clipper bow of the Ospreys was replaced by a vertical stem and the engines were more powerful. The hull was of composite construction, with wooden planks over an iron frame. [1]

Propulsion

Power was provided by three cylindrical boilers, which supplied steam at 60 pounds per square inch (410 kPa) to a two-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine driving a single 13-foot-1-inch (3.99 m) screw. This arrangement produced 1,006 indicated horsepower (750 kW) and a top speed of 11+12 knots (21.3 km/h). [1]

Armament

Ships of the class were armed with two 7-inch (90 cwt) muzzle-loading rifled guns on pivoting mounts, and four 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns (two on pivoting mounts, and two broadside). Four machine guns and one light gun completed the weaponry. [1]

Sail plan

All the ships of the class were provided with a barque rig, [1] that is, square-rigged foremast and mainmast, and fore-and-aft sails only on the mizzen mast.

Crew

Dragon would have had a normal complement of 140–150 men. [1]

Construction

Dragon was ordered from Devonport Dockyard and laid down on 26 April 1877. She was launched on 30 May 1878 and was commissioned on 19 February 1879. [1]

Service

Having commissioned she made passage to the East Indies Station. [2] She took part in the Egyptian War in 1882 under the command of Edward Grey Hulton, landing a naval brigade at Suez. She was accompanied by the Euryalus, along with a complement of soldiers from the 72 (Seaforth) Highlanders. [3] The naval brigade occupied the town, the Egyptian troops fled, and the burning of the town, which had been feared, was averted. In 1884 and 1885 she worked to suppress slavery in the Persian Gulf and east coast of Africa. [4] By 1890 she had returned to Devonport. [2]

Fate

She was sold for breaking on 24 September 1892. [1]

Dragon being broken up HMS Dragon (1878) being broken up.jpg
Dragon being broken up

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Winfield (2004) p.292
  2. 1 2 "HMS Dragon at the Naval Database website" . Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  3. Egyptian Gazette (1882-08-18). 18 August 1882.
  4. "HMS Dragon at World Naval Ships website" . Retrieved 4 August 2011.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Kingfisher</i> (1879) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Kingfisher was a Doterel-class screw sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built at Sheerness Dockyard and launched on 16 December 1879. She conducted anti-slavery work in the East Indies in the late 1880s before being re-roled as a training cruiser, being renamed HMS Lark on 10 November 1892, and then HMS Cruizer on 18 May 1893. She was sold in 1919.

HMS <i>Pegasus</i> (1878) Royal ship in 1878

HMS Pegasus was a Doterel-class screw composite 6-gun sloop launched on 13 June 1878. She was sold for scrap in 1892.

<i>Osprey</i>-class sloop

The Osprey class was a Royal Navy class of screw-driven sloops built between 1874 and 1877. Nine additional ships were built to a revised design, the Doterel-class sloop. They were the first class of ship in the Royal Navy to use glass scuttles.

HMS <i>Gannet</i> (1878) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMSGannet is a Royal Navy Doterel-class screw sloop-of-war launched on 31 August 1878. It became a training ship in the Thames in 1903, and was then loaned as a training ship for boys in the Hamble from 1913. It was restored in 1987 and is now part of the UK's National Historic Fleet.

HMS <i>Dryad</i> (1866) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Dryad was a 4-gun Amazon-class screw sloop, launched at Devonport in 1866. She served on the East Indies and North American Stations, taking part in the Abyssinian War, a confrontation with the French at Tamatave and the Egyptian War. She was sold for breaking in 1885.

HMS <i>Cormorant</i> (1877) Sloop of the Royal Navy

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.

<i>Rosario</i>-class sloop 1862 class of British sloops-of-war

The Rosario class was a class of seven screw-sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1860 and 1862. A further six vessels were ordered and laid down, but were cancelled in 1863 before launch. This was the last class of purely wooden sloops built for the Royal Navy.

<i>Doterel</i>-class sloop

The Doterel class was a Royal Navy class of screw-driven sloops. They were of composite construction, with wooden hulls over an iron frame. They were a revised version of an 1874 design by the Royal Navy's Chief Constructor, William Henry White, the Osprey-class sloop. Two of the class were lost, one to an explosion off Chile and one wrecked off Canada. Gannet is preserved at Chatham Historic Dockyard.

HMS <i>Penguin</i> (1876) HMS Fantome

HMS Penguin was an Osprey-class sloop. Launched in 1876, Penguin was operated by the Royal Navy from 1877 to 1881, then from 1886 to 1889. After being converted to a survey vessel, Penguin was recommissioned in 1890, and operated until 1908, when she was demasted and transferred to the Australian Commonwealth Naval Forces for use as a depot and training ship in Sydney Harbour. After this force became the Royal Australian Navy, the sloop was commissioned as HMAS Penguin in 1913. Penguin remained in naval service until 1924, when she was sold off and converted into a floating crane. The vessel survived until 1960, when she was broken up and burnt.

HMS <i>Basilisk</i> (1848) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Basilisk was a first-class paddle sloop of the Royal Navy, built at the Woolwich Dockyard and launched on 22 August 1848.

HMS <i>Miranda</i> (1879) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Miranda was a Doterel-class sloop of the Royal Navy, built at Devonport Dockyard and launched on 30 September 1879.

HMS <i>Espiegle</i> (1880) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Espiegle was a Doterel-class sloop of the Royal Navy, built at the Devonport Dockyard and launched on 3 August 1880.

HMS <i>Nymphe</i> (1866) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Nymphe was an Amazon-class sloop, of the Royal Navy, built at the Deptford Dockyard and launched on 24 November 1866. She served in the East Indies and Australia, and was sold in 1884.

HMS <i>Phoenix</i> (1895) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Phoenix was a Royal Navy Phoenix-class steel screw sloop. She was launched at Devonport in 1895, saw action in China during the Boxer Rebellion, and later served on the Pacific Station. She had the misfortune to be alongside a coaling pier in Hong Kong on 18 September 1906 when a typhoon struck the colony. She foundered and became a total loss.

HMS <i>Doterel</i> (1880) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Doterel was a Doterel-class sloop launched by the Royal Navy in 1880. She sank at anchor off Punta Arenas after an explosion on 26 April 1881. Her loss caused the deaths of 143 crew members, and there were 12 survivors. She was en route to join the Pacific Station. Her loss was initially the source of much speculation. Causes considered included an attack by the Fenians, a lost torpedo, and a coal gas explosion. An enquiry in September 1881 concluded coal gas was the cause.

HMS <i>Phoenix</i> (1879) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Phoenix was a Doterel-class sloop launched in 1879. She was wrecked off Prince Edward Island, Canada on 12 September 1882.

HMS <i>Mutine</i> (1880) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Mutine was a Doterel-class sloop of the Royal Navy, built at the Devonport Dockyard and launched on 20 July 1880. She became a boom defence vessel at Southampton in 1899 and was renamed Azov in 1904. She was sold after World War I.

<i>Hydra</i>-class sloop

The Hydra class were a class of three paddlewheel steam sloops of the British Royal Navy. They saw active service variously in the Baltic during the Crimean War, against Ottoman forces in Syria and against slavers in West Africa. Latterly, Hydra and Hecate were used for surveys in the Mediterranean, the Pacific, Australia and the Atlantic, and thus their names were re-used for the Hecla-class survey vessels in the late 20th century. Two of the classes were broken up after more than twenty-five years of service, and Hecla was sold for commercial use in 1863.

HMS <i>Pelican</i> (1877) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Pelican was an Osprey-class sloop built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1870s. She was launched in 1877 and was sold to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1901. She was scuttled in 1953.

HMS <i>Wild Swan</i> (1876) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Wild Swan was an Osprey-class sloop built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1870s. She was launched in 1877 and became a base ship in 1904, being renamed Clyde. She was renamed Columbine in 1913 and was sold for breaking in 1920.

References