Design and description
The Iris-class ships were designed as dispatch vessels and were later redesignated as second-class protected cruisers. Iris had an overall length of 331 feet 6 inches (101 m), a beam of 46 feet (14 m), and a draught of 20 feet 6 inches (6.2 m). They displaced 3,730 long tons (3,790 t ) at normal load [1] and were the first British warships with an all-steel hull. [2] Their crew consisted of 275 officers and ratings. [1]
The Iris class was powered by a pair of horizontal four-cylinder Maudslay, Sons and Field compound-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam from eight oval and four cylindrical boilers. [1] The engines were designed to produce a total of 6,000 indicated horsepower (4,500 kW ) for a speed of 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Iris initially reached a maximum speed of 16.6 knots (30.7 km/h; 19.1 mph) from 7,086 ihp (5,284 kW) during her sea trials, but after new propellers were fitted, achieved 17.89 knots (33.13 km/h; 20.59 mph) from 7,330 ihp (5,470 kW). [3] The ship carried enough coal to steam 4,400 nautical miles (8,100 km; 5,100 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). She was initially fitted with a barque sailing rig, but this was removed after a few years. [1]
The Iris-class ships were originally armed with ten 64-pounder (6.3-inch (160 mm)) rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns, eight on the main deck and the remaining pair on the upper deck on pivot mounts to serve as chase guns fore and aft. [1]
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The Iris class consisted of two ships, HMS Iris and HMS Mercury, built for the Royal Navy in the 1870s. They were the first British all-steel warships.
HMS Mercury was one of two Iris-class despatch vessels, later redesignated as second class cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the 1870s. The two ships were the first all-steel warships in the Royal Navy.
The Topaze-class cruisers were a quartet of third-class protected cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. HMS Amethyst of this class was the first warship larger than a destroyer to be powered by turbine engines.
The Cricket class and following classes of coastal destroyers were a series of small torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) intended to complement the Royal Navy's Tribal-class destroyers. The thirty-six vessels which broadly comprised this group actually consisted of several distinct classes, as each contractor built to their own designs, and even single contractor's designs evolved from year to year.
United Kingdom
