Hydra-class sloop

Last updated

Engelska Krono Augfartyet Hecla efter affaren wid Ekenas d.27 May 1854 RMG PY0896.jpg
Hecla in 1854
Class overview
NameHydra-class steam sloop
Builders Chatham Dockyard
OperatorsNaval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  Royal Navy
Preceded by HMS Gorgon
Succeeded by Merlin-class sloop
Cost£37,239 [Note 1]
Built1837–1839
In commission1838–1870
Completed3
Retired3
General characteristics [1]
Type
  • Second-class steam vessel
  • (later second class sloop)
Displacement1,096 long tons (1,114  t)
Tons burthen814 91/94 tons bm
Length
  • 165 ft 0 in (50.3 m) (gundeck)
  • 143 ft 7+1⁄4 in (43.8 m) (keel)
Beam32 ft 10 in (10.0 m)
Draught
  • 12 ft 1 in (3.7 m) (forward)
  • 13 ft 0 in (4.0 m) (aft)
Depth of hold20 ft 4 in (6.2 m)
Installed power
  • Hydra: 220 nhp
  • Hecla & Hecate: 240 nhp
Propulsion
Sail plan Brig rig
Speed9 knots (17 km/h) (under steam)
Complement135
Armament

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.

Contents

Design

The ships were designed by Sir William Symonds and were approved on 3 November 1837. They were built of wood, displaced 1,096 tons and had a length on the gundeck of 165 feet (50.3 m). [1]

Propulsion

Power was provided by a two-cylinder side-lever steam engine driving paddle wheels. In Hecla and Hecate this engine was provided by Scott & Sinclair, and was rated at 240 nominal horsepower; in Hydra, the steam engine was provided by Boulton and Watt and rated at 220 nominal horsepower. All the ships were capable of about 9 knots (17 km/h) under steam. [1] Paddle sloops of the period were usually built with a schooner rig, but later pictures show Hecate with a brig rig. [2]

Hecla had her engines replaced in her 1848–1849 refit. [1]

Armament

All three ships were armed with two 32-pounder (50 cwt) smoothbore muzzle-loading guns on truck mounts and two 8 in (200 mm) (65 cwt) smoothbore muzzle-loading shell guns on pivoting mounts. [Note 2] [1]

Crew

They had a complement of approximately 135 men. [1]

Service

Hecate

Hecate run aground at Neah Bay east of Cape Flattery in 1861 HMS Hecate (1839) aground in 1861.jpg
Hecate run aground at Neah Bay east of Cape Flattery in 1861

Hecate served in the Mediterranean from 1840 to 1843, including operations against the Ottomans in Syria in 1840. From 1845 to 1857 she served off the west coast of Africa, including anti-slavery operations. In 1860 she became a survey vessel, and under George Henry Richards she made a survey of Vancouver Island. [3]

Hydra

With Hecate, Hydra served in the Mediterranean, including the 1840 Syria operations. She served from 1840 to 1862 on both seaboards of the North and South Atlantic, including the period 1858 to 1862, when she was commanded by Richard Vesey Hamilton, later to become First Naval Lord. In 1863 she conducted survey work in the Mediterranean. [4]

Hecla

Hecla run aground off Gibraltar in 1855 HMS Hecla (1839) sinking off Gibraltar.jpg
Hecla run aground off Gibraltar in 1855

From her commissioning in 1839 to 1854 Hecla served in the West Indies, in the Mediterranean and on the west coast of Africa. In February 1854 she reconnoitred the Baltic for British operations there during the Crimean War, and from March to November 1854, under the command of Captain William Hutcheon Hall, who had taken command of the small vessel because a warship of the size appropriate to his seniority was not available. [5] She ran aground off Gibraltar on 23 January 1855, for which her commanding officer, Henry Samuel Hawker was severely reprimanded by a court martial. [6] She served off the west coast of Africa until 1859, [5] and was sold to Williams & Co. for £2,550 for commercial use on 15 June 1863 and renamed Typhoon. [1]

Ships

NameShip builderLaid downLaunchedCommissionedFate
Hydra Chatham DockyardJanuary 183813 June 1838 [Note 3] 11 July 1838Sold for breaking 13 May 1870
Hecla Chatham DockyardJune 183814 January 183928 August 1839Sold to Williams & Co. for commercial use on 15 June 1863 and renamed Typhoon
Hecate Chatham DockyardJune 183830 March 18397 December 1839Sold for breaking in 1865

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ A total cost accounting for inflation of approximately £3,567,100 in today's money.
  2. ↑ "cwt", or "hundredweight" refers to the weight of the gun itself. "32-pounder" refers to the weight of the ball fired.
  3. ↑ Winfield has "July 1838"

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Winfield (2004), p.159.
  2. ↑ Image of Hecate in a gale
  3. ↑ "HMS Hecate". William Loney website. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  4. ↑ "HMS Hydra". William Loney website. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  5. 1 2 "HMS Hecla". William Loney website. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  6. ↑ "Henry Samuel Hawker". William Loney website. Retrieved 21 January 2012.

Related Research Articles

<i>Hecla</i>-class survey vessel

The Hecla class formed the backbone of the Royal Navy's ocean survey fleet from the mid-1960s.

HMS <i>Gorgon</i> (1837) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Gorgon was a wooden steam paddle sloop of 6 guns, launched in 1837. In 1840 she took part in the bombardment of Acre, and in 1843 was part of the Royal Navy squadron stationed in the River Plate during the Uruguayan Civil War. She was converted to a troopship and in 1858 assisted Agamemnon in the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable. She was sold for breaking in 1864.

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

HMS Plumper was part of the 1847 programme, she was ordered on the 25 of April as a steam schooner from Woolwich Dockyard with the name Pincher. However, the reference Ships of the Royal Navy, by J.J. College, (c) 2020 there is no entry that associates this name to this build. The vessel was reordered on August 12 as an 8-gun sloop as designed by John Fincham, Master Shipwright at Portsmouth. Launched in 1848, she served three commissions, firstly on the West Indies and North American Station, then on the West Africa Station and finally in the Pacific Station. It was during her last commission as a survey ship that she left her most enduring legacy; in charting the west coast of British Columbia she left her name and those of her ship's company scattered across the charts of the region. She paid off for the last time in 1861 and was finally sold for breaking up in 1865.

HMS <i>Hydra</i> (1838) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Hydra was the lead ship of her class of wooden steam paddle sloops of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1838 at Chatham Dockyard. After taking part in operations during the Syrian War in 1840, she then served on anti-slavery operations and also as a survey vessel. She was scrapped in 1870.

<i>Algerine</i>-class gunboat

The Algerine-class gunboats were a class of six 3-gun wooden gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1857. A further pair were built in India for the Bombay Marine in 1859.

<i>Cruizer</i>-class sloop Royal Navy ship class in service (1852–1912)

The Cruizer class was a class of six 17-gun wooden screw sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1852 and 1856.

<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.

HMS <i>Niger</i> (1846) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Niger was originally slated to be built as a Sampson designed sloop; however, she was ordered as a First-Class sloop with screw propulsion on 20 February 1845 to be built at Woolwich Dockyard, along the design developed by Oliver Lang and with a hull like the Basilisk designed paddle sloops. Her armament and engine were to be like the Encounter Design building at Pembroke. A second vessel (Florentia) was ordered on 26 March 1846 but after her keel was laid at Pembroke Dockyard, her construction was suspended on 6 October 1846 then cancelled three years later, on 22 May 1849. Niger She conducted important propulsion trials, finally proving the superiority of screw propulsion and served in West Africa, the Crimea, China, the East Indies and Australia. She took part in the New Zealand wars in 1860 and was sold for breaking in 1869.

HMS <i>Cordelia</i> (1856) Ship launched in 1870

HMS Cordelia was an 11-gun Racer-class sloop of the Royal Navy launched in 1856 and sold in 1870.

HMS <i>Eclipse</i> (1860) Gunvessel of the Royal Navy

HMS Eclipse was a four-gun Cormorant-class first-class gunvessel launched in 1860 from the shipyard of J. Scott Russell & Co., Millwall. She served on the Australia Station, took part in the Second Taranaki War, including contributing men to a naval brigade which attacked the Maori stronghold at Gate Pā. The entire class were never satisfactory as gunvessels, partly due to their excessive draught, and Eclipse was broken up at Sheerness in 1867, only seven years after her launch.

HMS <i>Salamander</i> (1832) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Salamander was one of the initial steam powered vessels built for the Royal Navy. On 10 January 1831 the First Sea Lord gave orders that four paddle vessels be built to competitive designs. The vessels were to be powered by Maudslay, Son & Field steam engines, carry a schooner rig and mount one or two 10-inch shell guns. Initially classed simply as a steam vessel (SV), she was re-classed as a second-class steam sloop when that categorization was introduced on 31 May 1844. Designed by Joseph Seaton, the Master Shipwright of Sheerness, she was initially slated to be built in Portsmouth, and was changed to Sheerness Dockyard. She was launched and completed in 1832, took part in the Second Anglo-Burmese War and was broken up in 1883.

HMS <i>Hecate</i> (1839) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Hecate was a 4-gun Hydra-class paddle sloop launched on 30 March 1839 from the Chatham Dockyard.

HMS <i>Phoenix</i> (1832) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Phoenix was a 6-gun steam paddle vessel of the Royal Navy, built in a dry dock at Chatham in 1832. She was reclassified as a second-class paddle sloop before being rebuilt as a 10-gun screw sloop in 1844–45. She was fitted as an Arctic storeship in 1851 and sold for breaking in 1864.

The Swallow-class sloop was a 9-gun wooden screw sloop class of four ships built for the Royal Navy between 1854 and 1857.

HMS <i>Myrmidon</i> (1867) Gunvessel of the Royal Navy

HMS Myrmidon was a Cormorant-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy, built at Chatham Dockyard and launched in 1867. She served on the North America and West Indies Station and surveyed parts of the Australian coast before being sold at Hong Kong in 1889.

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>Malacca</i> (1853) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Malacca was a 17-gun wooden sloop of the Royal Navy. She was ordered on 9 November 1847 from Moulmein, Burma to be built of teak. As a Surveyor's Department design, Malacca was based on the Conflict designed sloop which was approved on 9 December 1848. After launching in April 1853 she was commissioned the following month to be sailed to England for the fitting of her engine. She entered British Naval service in 1854 and served three commissions including action in the Russian War 1854 - 55 before being sold in 1869. Her resale to Japan, she served in the Japanese Navy as a training ship until broken in 1906.

HMS <i>Surly</i> (1856) British Royal Navy mortar vessel

HMS Surly was an Albacore-class gunboat built for the Royal Navy. She was constructed in Newcastle by T & W Smith as part of the second batch, ordered in early October 1855, and was launched on 18 March 1856. After commissioning she served in the Steam Reserve and Coastguard Reserve. She was sold out of service in 1869.

HMS Rhadamanthus was one of the initial steam powered vessels built for the Royal Navy. On 10 January 1831 the First Sea Lord gave orders that four paddle vessels be built to competitive designs. The vessels were to be powered by Maudslay, Son & Field steam engines, carry a schooner rig and mount one or two 10-inch shell guns. Initially classed simply as a steam vessel (SV), she was re-classed as a second-class steam sloop in 1846. Designed by Thomas Roberts, the Master Shipwright of Plymouth. She was launched and completed in 1832, She was converted into a transport in 1841 then in 1851 she was a troopship and by the 1860s she was a transport again. Her breaking was completed in February 1864.

HMS Medea was one of the initial steam-powered vessels built for the Royal Navy. On 10 January 1831 the new First Lord Sir James Graham, 2nd Baronet gave orders that four paddle vessels be built to competitive designs. The vessels were to be powered by Maudslay, Son & Field steam engines, carry a schooner rig and mount one or two 10-inch shell guns. Initially classed simply as a steam vessel (SV), she was re-classed as a second-class steam sloop when that categorization was introduced on 31 May 1844. Designed by Oliver Lang, the master shipwright of Woolwich. She was launched and completed in 1834, took part in the Syrian Coast Campaign and was broken up in 1867.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.