Rosario-class sloop Peterel | |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name | Rosario-class sloop |
Builders |
|
Operators |
|
Built | 1860 - 1862 |
In commission | 1862 - 1881 |
Completed | 7 |
Cancelled | 6 |
Lost | 0 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 913 tons |
Length | 160 ft 10 in (49.02 m) |
Beam | 30 ft 6 in (9.30 m) |
Draught | 15 ft 10 in (4.83 m) |
Installed power | 436 - 627 indicated horsepower |
Propulsion |
|
Sail plan |
|
Speed | About 9 kn (17 km/h) under power |
Complement | 140 |
Armament |
|
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.
The Rosario class were designed in 1858 by Issac Watts, the Director of Naval Construction. They were built of wood, were rated for 11 guns and were built with a full ship rig of sails (this was reduced to a barque rig by about 1869). With a length overall of 160 feet (49 m) and a beam of 30 feet 4 inches (9.25 m), they had a displacement of 913 tons. [1] These were the last sloops constructed for the Royal Navy to retain all-wooden construction; their successors, the Amazon class, incorporated iron cross beams. [1]
All the completed vessels, with the exception of Shearwater, were fitted with a Greenock Foundry Company two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine driving a single screw. With an indicated horsepower of between 436 horsepower (325 kW) and 627 horsepower (468 kW) they were capable of about 9 knots (17 km/h) under steam. [1] Shearwater's R & W Hawthorn engine was similar in design and power. [1]
As designed, ships of the class carried a single slide-mounted 40-pounder Armstrong breech-loading gun, six 32-pounder muzzle-loading smooth-bore guns and four pivot-mounted 20-pounder Armstrong breech loaders. By 1869 the armament had been reduced to a single 7-inch (180 mm) muzzle-loading gun and two 40-pounders. [1]
Rosario served a four-year commission on the North America and West Indies Station and then served an eight-year commission in Australia. She paid off in Sheerness in 1875 and was broken up nearly ten years later. [2] [3]
Peterel served three commissions as a warship, on the North America and West Indies Station, the Cape of Good Hope Station and the Pacific Station. In 1877 she became a lightship marking the wreck of Vanguard, then in 1885 she was converted into a coal depot before finally being sold in 1901, the longest lived of her class. [4] [5]
Rapid served a commission on the Cape of Good Hope Station and then two commissions with the Mediterranean Fleet before being broken up at Malta after more than 20 years service. [6] [7]
Shearwater spent a single six-year commission on the Pacific Station and was then converted into a survey vessel. Under George Strong Nares and later William Wharton (later Hydrographer of the Navy) she surveyed around the Mediterranean and the East coast of Africa. She was broken up at Sheerness in 1877. [8] [9]
Royalist served both her commissions on the North America and West Indies Station, being commanded between 1865 and 1866 by Maurice Horatio Nelson, son of Thomas Nelson, 2nd Earl Nelson and great nephew to Horatio Nelson. She was broken up at Chatham in 1875. [10] [11]
Columbine served briefly in the Channel Squadron before moving to the Pacific Station. Her second commission was on the East Indies Station, which at the time was involved in a long campaign to combat slavery in the area. Like Royalist, she was broken up at Chatham in 1875. [12] [13]
Of all the class, Africa had by far the shortest career in the Royal Navy, but one of the most unusual. Sold to the Imperial Chinese Customs shortly after launch, and renamed China, she became part of Sherard Osborn's "Vampire Fleet", along with Jasper and Mohawk. The venture came to nothing when it became apparent that command would not rest with the Emperor, but instead with local Mandarins. Osborn resigned his command, and the ships were resold to the Egyptian government in the mid-1860s. [14] [15]
Name | Ship Builder | Launched | Fate |
---|---|---|---|
Rosario | Deptford Dockyard | 17 October 1860 [16] | Prison ship for young criminals in South Australia from 1874, sold for breaking 31 January 1884 [1] |
Peterel | Devonport Dockyard | 10 November 1860 [16] | Light vessel from 1877, coal hulk from 1885, sold October 1901 [1] |
Rapid | Deptford Dockyard | 29 November 1860 [16] | Broken up at Malta in September 1881 [1] |
Shearwater | Pembroke Dockyard | 17 October 1861 [16] | Broken up at Sheerness in 1877 [1] |
Royalist | Devonport Dockyard | 14 December 1861 [16] | Broken up at Chatham in 1875 [1] |
Columbine | Deptford Dockyard | 2 April 1862 [16] | Broken up at Chatham in 1875 [1] |
Africa | Devonport Dockyard | 14 February 1862 [16] | Sold to Chinese Imperial Customs 18 August 1862, renamed China and sailed to join Sherard Osborn's "Vampire Fleet". Resold to the Egyptian Government 30 December 1865. [1] |
Circassian (ex-Enterprise) | Deptford Dockyard | - | Cancelled 12 December 1863 |
Acheron | Deptford Dockyard | - | Cancelled 12 December 1863 |
Bittern | Devonport Dockyard | - | Cancelled 12 December 1863 |
Fame | Deptford Dockyard | - | Cancelled 12 December 1863 |
Cynthia | Devonport Dockyard | - | Cancelled 12 December 1863 |
Sabrina | Pembroke Dockyard | - | Cancelled 12 December 1863 |
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 Shearwater was a Condor-class sloop launched in 1900. She served on the Pacific Station and in 1915 was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Shearwater, serving as a submarine depot ship until 1919. She was sold to the Western Shipping Company in May 1922 and renamed Vedas.
HMS Hornet was a 17-gun wooden screw sloop of the Cruizer class of the Royal Navy, launched in 1854 and broken up in 1868.
HMS Hyacinth was an 18-gun Royal Navy ship sloop. She was launched in 1829 and surveyed the north-eastern coast of Australia under Francis Price Blackwood during the mid-1830s. She took part in the First Opium War, destroying, with HMS Volage, 29 Chinese junks. She became a coal hulk at Portland in 1860 and was broken up in 1871.
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.
HMS Fly was an 18-gun sloop of the Royal Navy. She was responsible for the exploration and charting of much of Australia's north-east coast and nearby islands. She was converted to a coal hulk in 1855 and broken up in 1903.
HMS Highflyer was a 21-gun wooden screw frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built on the River Thames by C J Mare and launched on 13 August 1851. She spent twenty years in service, including action in the Crimean War and the Second Opium War, before being broken up at Portsmouth in May 1871.
HMS Daring was a 12 gun-brig of the Royal Navy which became part of the Experimental Squadrons of both 1844 and 1845, and later served in the West Indies. She was sold in 1864.
Seven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Peterel:
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.
The Alert class was a two-ship class of 6-gun screw steel sloops built for the Royal Navy in 1894.
The Condor class was a six-ship class of 10-gun screw steel sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1898 and 1900. Condor foundered in a gale, prompting the Royal Navy to abandon sailing rigs for its ships; all the others in the class survived into the 1920s. The last of the class, Mutine, survived until 1932 as a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve drill ship.
The Cadmus class was a six-ship class of 10-gun screw steel sloops built at Sheerness Dockyard for the Royal Navy between 1900 and 1903. This was the last class of the Victorian Navy's multitude of sloops, gunvessels and gunboats to be constructed, and they followed the traditional pattern for 'colonial' small warships, with a full rig of sails. After them, the "Fisher Reforms" of the Navy ended the construction and deployment of this type of vessel. All of the class survived until the 1920s, remaining on colonial stations during World War I.
HMS Fawn was a Royal Navy 17-gun Cruizer-class sloop launched in 1856. She served on the Australia, North America and Pacific stations before being converted to a survey ship in 1876. She was sold and broken up in 1884.
HMS Charybdis was a 21-gun Royal Navy Pearl-class corvette launched on 1 July 1859 at Chatham Dockyard.
HMS Virago was a Royal Navy Driver-class wooden paddle sloop launched on 25 July 1842 from Chatham Dockyard.
HMS Peterel was a 16-gun Pylades-class ship-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1794 and was in active service until 1811. Her most famous action was the capture of the French brig Ligurienne when shortly after Peterel captured two merchant ships and sent them off with prize crews, three French ships attacked her. She drove two on shore and captured the largest, the 14-gun Ligurienne. The Navy converted Peterel to a receiving ship at Plymouth in 1811 and sold her in 1827.
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 Peterel was a Rosario-class sloop of the Royal Navy.
HMS Growler was a paddle-driven Driver-class sloop, built in 1841 and broken up in 1854. In 1847 she carried liberated Africans to Sierra Leone for resettlement.