Steam frigates and the smaller steam corvettes, steam sloops, steam gunboats and steam schooners, were steam-powered warships that were not meant to stand in the line of battle. The first such ships were paddle steamers. Later on the invention of screw propulsion enabled construction of screw-powered versions of the traditional frigates, corvettes, sloops and gunboats.
Dupuy de Lôme was an armoured cruiser built for the French Navy during the late 1880s and 1890s. She is considered by some to be the world's first armoured cruiser and was intended to attack enemy merchant ships. The ship was named after the naval architect Henri Dupuy de Lôme. Dupuy de Lôme's completion was delayed by almost two years by problems with her boilers, but she was finally commissioned in 1895 and assigned to the Northern Squadron, based at Brest, for most of her career. The ship made a number of visits to foreign ports before she began a lengthy reconstruction in 1902. By the time this was completed in 1906, the cruiser was regarded as obsolete and Dupuy de Lôme was placed in reserve, aside from one assignment in Morocco.
HMS Vulture was one of three 6-gun, steam-powered Cyclops-class second-class paddle frigates built for the Royal Navy in the 1840s. She was initially deployed to the East Indies where she participated in actions against China and then played a minor role in the Crimean War of 1854–1855. The ship was sold for scrap in 1863.
Rurik (Рюрик) was a steam-powered frigate of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was ordered by the Senate of the Grand Duchy of Finland for the Finnish naval equipage (Suomen Meriekipaasi). She was named in honour of Rurik, the semi-legendary founder of ancient Russia.
At least two frigates of the Imperial Russian Navy have been named Kamchatka:
Bonnington was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia from 1911 to 1931. Bonnington and two sisterships were the largest sternwheelers ever built in British Columbia. Bonnington was partially dismantled in the 1950s, and later sank, making the vessel the largest freshwater wreck site in British Columbia.
HMS Terrible was when designed the largest steam-powered wooden paddle wheel frigate built for 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.
Heinrich Arp was a 1,428 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1923 by shipyard F Schichau, Elbling, Weimar Republic for German owners «Heinrich F C Arp», Hamburg. In May 1945, she was seized by the Allies at Hamburg, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Connemara. In May 1946, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and renamed Liza Chaikina.
The Russian ironclad Sevastopol was ordered as a 58-gun wooden frigate by the Imperial Russian Navy in the early 1860s, but was converted while under construction into a 32-gun armored frigate. She served in the Baltic Fleet and was reclassified as a training ship in 1880. Sevastopol was decommissioned five years later, but was not sold for scrap until 1897.
HMS Bristol was the name ship of her class of wooden screw frigates built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s.
Voima was a Finnish and later Soviet steam-powered icebreaker. Laid down at Werft Becker & Co. in Tallinn in 1916 and fitted with engines in Danzig in 1918, the unfinished icebreaker was towed to Helsinki in 1920 and completed by Sandvikens Skeppsdocka och Mekaniska Verkstads Ab in 1923–1924. After two decades of successful service Voima was handed over to the Soviet Union as war reparation in 1945 and renamed Malygin (Малыгин). She remained in service until 1970 and was broken up in 1971.
SS Empress Queen was a steel-hulled paddle steamer, the last of her type ordered by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. The Admiralty chartered her in 1915 as a troop ship a role in which she saw service until she ran aground off Bembridge, Isle of Wight, England in 1916 and was subsequently abandoned.
HMS Dee was the first paddle steamer ordered for the Royal Navy, designed to carry a significant armament. She was ordered on 4 April 1827 from Woolwich Dockyard. She was designed by Sir Robert Seppings, Surveyor of the Navy and modified by Oliver Lang. This vessel was considered as new construction as a previous vessel ordered as a flush deck Cherokee-class brig in 1824, had been renamed African in May 1825. She was initially classed as a steam vessel (SV), and in 1837 reclassified as a steam vessel class 2 (SV2). She was converted to a troopship in May 1842 and as a second class sloop in 1846. She was converted into a storeship in 1868. She was broken at Sheerness in 1871.
Mecidiye was the lead ship of four wooden-hulled Mecidiye-class paddle frigates built for the Ottoman Navy in the 1840s; they were the first Ottoman-built warships powered by steam. She was modified during construction to be used as a yacht by the sultan of the Ottoman Empire. During the Crimean War, she took part in a minor, inconclusive battle with a Russian frigate but otherwise saw no further action. She saw limited service for the remainder of her career, including during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. She ended her career as a coal storage hulk and was broken up in 1903.
Taif was one of four wooden-hulled Mecidiye-class paddle frigates built for the Ottoman Navy in the 1840s; they were the first Ottoman-built warships powered by steam. She served with the fleet until 1867, including during the Crimean War, where she saw a minor battle with a Russian frigate in the Black Sea. She was present at the Battle of Sinop, but her steam engine allowed her to escape before the Russian fleet destroyed the Ottoman squadron in the port. The ship remained in service until 1867, seeing little activity during this period, and was ultimately broken up in 1868.
SMS Preussischer Adler was a paddle steamer originally built in the mid-1840s for use on a packet route between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire in the Baltic Sea. She was requisitioned by the Prussian Navy during the First Schleswig War in 1848 and converted into an aviso, the first vessel of the type commissioned by Prussia. During the war, she took part in an inconclusive action with the Danish brig St. Croix, the first naval battle of the Prussian fleet. After the war, she was disarmed and returned to her commercial role, operating uneventfully on the Stettin–St. Petersburg route until 1862, when the expansion of the Prussian Eastern Railway had rendered the maritime route superfluous. The ship was purchased by the Prussian Navy that year and rearmed, once again as an aviso.
The Nix class was a pair of avisos built for the Prussian Navy in the early 1850s. The class comprised two ships: SMS Nix and Salamander. They were ordered as part of a modest program to strengthen the fleet at the urging of Prince Adalbert of Prussia in the immediate aftermath of the First Schleswig War, which had demonstrated that the weak fleet could not challenge the ability of Denmark to impose a blockade of Prussian and German ports. They were small vessels with a shallow draft, since they were intended to operate close to shore to defend Prussia's coast. Neither vessel saw significant service in the Prussian Navy before being sold to the British Royal Navy in exchange for the frigate Thetis in 1855. They were renamed Weser and Recruit, respectively, and the former saw action during the Crimean War in the Black Sea later in 1855. The two ships saw little activity after their sale to Britain, with Recruit being laid up in 1861 and Weser following in 1865. Recruit was sold for merchant service in 1870, while Weser was discarded in 1873.
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.
The Bulldog-class steam vessels (SV2) later reclassed as First Class Sloops, were designed by Sir William Symonds, the Surveyor of the Navy. Designed from the Driver class by Admiralty Order of 26 December 1843, the design was approved in 1844. The changes included lengthening the bow by 10 feet to provide 6 feet of extra space in the engine room. Three vessels would have a single funnel whereas Scourge would have two and be completed as a bomb vessel. In July 1844 it was queried if Fury was to be completed as a screw vessel, however, since her construction was well along she would be completed as a paddle steamer. Four vessels were ordered and completed.
Russian Empire