Satellite | |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name | Satellite-class sloops |
Builders |
|
Operators | |
Cost | £62,900 (Satellite) - £71,000 (Caroline) |
Built | 1883–1888 |
In commission | 1883–1947 |
Completed | 7 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 1,420 tons |
Length | 200 ft (61 m) |
Beam | 38 ft (12 m) |
Draught | 15.7 ft (4.8 m) [1] |
Installed power | 1,400 hp (1,044 kW) |
Propulsion |
|
Sail plan | Barque-rigged |
Range | Approximately 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h) [1] |
Complement | 170-200 |
Armament |
|
Armour | Internal steel deck over machinery and magazines |
The Satellite class was a class of 12-gun composite sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1883 and 1888, and reclassified as corvettes in 1884. [2]
Designed by Nathaniel Barnaby, [1] the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction, the hull was of composite construction; that is, iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts with wooden planking. This class of composite sloops was unique in having an internal steel deck over the machinery and magazines for protection. The Satellite class were reclassified as corvettes in 1884, and no more composite or wooden corvettes were built - in fact, Pylades was the last corvette built for the Royal Navy until the Second World War.
Propulsion was provided by a horizontal compound expansion of 1,400 indicated horsepower (1,044 kW) driving a single screw.
All the ships of the class were built with a barque rig.
The class was designed with two 6-inch/100-pounder (81cwt) breech loaders and ten 5-inch/50-pounder (38cwt) breech loaders, plus a single light gun and four (or more) machine guns. [1] Heroine, Hyacinth and Royalist were built with eight 6-inch/100-pounder (81cwt) breech loaders in place of the 5-inch/6-inch mixture, and Satellite was converted to the same fit. [1]
Name | Ship Builder | Launched | Fate |
---|---|---|---|
Satellite | Sheerness Dockyard | 13 August 1881 | RNVR drill ship at North Shields on the River Tyne [3] in 1904. Sold to J G Potts for breaking on 21 October 1947 |
Heroine | Devonport Dockyard | 3 December 1881 | Sold to King of Bristol for breaking on 28 August 1902 |
Hyacinth | Devonport Dockyard | 20 December 1881 | Sold to King of Bristol for breaking on 25 August 1902 |
Royalist | Devonport Dockyard | 7 March 1883 | Hulk in February 1900. Renamed Colleen on 1 December 1913 and transferred to the Irish Free State Government on 19 February 1923 |
Rapid | Devonport Dockyard | 21 March 1883 | Hulk in 1906. Became a coal hulk in 1912 and was renamed C7. Became an accommodation ship in 1916 and was renamed Hart. Sold at Gibraltar in 1948 |
Caroline | Sheerness Dockyard | 25 November 1882 | Hulk in 1897. Became a training ship in April 1908 and was renamed Ganges. Renamed Powerful III in September 1913 and Impregnable IV in November 1919. Sold on 31 August 1929 |
Pylades | Sheerness Dockyard | 5 November 1884 | Sold to Cohen of Felixstowe for breaking on 3 April 1906. |
These ships were designed to patrol the far-flung reaches of Britain's maritime empire, and so Rapid and Royalist both went to the Australian Station, Satellite to the Pacific Station, Pylades to the North America and West Indies Station and Heroine, Caroline and Hyacinth all to the China Station. [4]
The seventh HMS Enterprise of the Royal Navy was an armoured sloop launched in 1864 at Deptford Dockyard. Originally laid down as a wooden screw sloop of the Camelion class, she was redesigned by Edward Reed and completed as a central battery ironclad. The ship spent the bulk of her career assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet before returning to England in 1871 where she was paid off. Enterprise was sold for scrap in 1885.
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.
The Camelion class was a class of screw-driven sloops of wood construction, designed by Isaac Watts and operated by the Royal Navy. Eight ships of the class were built from 1858 to 1866 with another eight cancelled. They were initially rated as second-class sloops, but were later reclassified as corvettes.
The Amazon class was a class of six screw sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1865 and 1866.
The Beagle class was a two-ship class of 8-gun screw steel sloops built for the Royal Navy in 1889.
The Mariner class was a class of six 8-gun gunvessels built for the Royal Navy between 1883 and 1888. Four were built in the Naval Dockard at Devonport, and two elsewhere; the Acorn was built by contract at Jacobs Pill on the Pembroke River, while the Melita was built in the Malta Dockyard, the only substantial ship of the Royal Navy ever to be built in the island.
The Eclipse class was a class of seven 6-gun wooden screw sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1867 and 1870. They were re-armed and re-classified as 12-gun corvettes in 1876. Two further vessels were proposed but never ordered.
The BL 5-inch guns Mk I – Mk V were early British 5-inch rifled breechloading naval guns after it switched from rifled muzzle-loaders in the late 1870s. They were originally designed to use the old gunpowder propellants. The 5-inch calibre was soon discontinued in favour of QF 4.7-inch.
The Comus class was a class of Royal Navy steam corvettes, re-classified as third-class cruisers in 1888. All were built between 1878 and 1881. The class exemplifies the transitional nature of the late Victorian navy. In design, materials, armament, and propulsion the class members resemble their wooden sailing antecedents, but blended with characteristics of the all-metal mastless steam cruisers which followed.
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 Hyacinth was an 8-gun Satellite-class composite sloop built for the Royal Navy, launched in 1881 and sold in 1902. She and the rest of her class were re-classified as corvettes in 1884.
The Condor-class gunvessel was a class of four Royal Navy composite gunvessels of 3 guns, built between 1876 and 1877. They were all hulked or sold before 1893, giving them an active life of less than 15 years.
HMS Pylades was a Satellite-class composite screw sloop of the Royal Navy, built at Sheerness Dockyard and launched on 5 November 1884. She was later reclassified as a corvette and was the last corvette built for the Royal Navy until the Second World War.
HMS Royalist was a Satellite-class composite screw sloop of the Royal Navy, built in 1883 and hulked as a depot ship in 1900. She was renamed Colleen in 1913, transferred to the Irish Free State in 1923 and broken up in 1950.
The Greyhound class was a development of the Cruizer-class sloop, and comprised two 17-gun wooden screw sloops. They were both launched in 1859 and saw service with the Royal Navy until 1870. The class was reclassified as corvettes in 1862.
The Ariel-class gunboat was a class of nine 4-gun composite gunboats built for the Royal Navy between 1871 and 1873. Although most were sold by 1890, one of them survived into the 1920s as a salvage vessel in private ownership. They were the first class of Royal Navy gunboat built of composite construction, that is, with iron keel, stem and stern posts, and iron framing, but planked with wood.
The Arab-class gunvessels were a pair of composite gunboats built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1870s.
The Banterer-class gunboat was a class of eleven gunboats mounting two 6-inch and two 4-inch guns, built for the Royal Navy between 1880 and 1892.
The Albacore-class gunboat was a class of three gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1883. The name had already been used for a class of 98 gunboats built during the Great Armament of the Crimean War.
HMS Caroline was a Satellite-class composite screw sloop of the Royal Navy, built at Sheerness Dockyard, fitted with Maudslay, Sons and Field machinery and launched on 25 November 1882. She was later reclassified as a corvette.