Forester-class gunboat

The Forester-class gunboat was a class of 4-gun composite gunboats built for the Royal Navy between 1874 and 1877. Although half had been sold by 1890, the rest survived into the 20th century as coal hulks, base vessels and other secondary uses. Foxhound survived as a hulk on the Blackwall Reach of the Thames until 1975, when she was broken up. They were built of composite construction, that is, with iron keel, stem and stern posts, and iron framing, but planked with wood.

HMS Foxhound
Class overview
Name: Forester-class gunboats
Builders:
  • William Doxford, Sunderland
  • Robert Napier & Sons, Govan
  • Earle’s Shipbuilding, Hull
  • Barrow Iron Shipbuilding
  • J & G Thomson, Govan
Operators:  Royal Navy
Preceded by: Ariel class
Succeeded by: Banterer class
Cost: Hull £14,150, machinery £6,550 (Foxhound)[1]
Built: 18741877
In commission: c.18741931
Completed: 12
Lost: 0
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Composite gunboat
Displacement:
  • First 6 ships: 440 tons
  • Last 6 ships: 455 tons
Length: 125 ft 0 in (38.1 m) pp
Beam: 23 ft 6 in (7.2 m)
Draught: 8 1210 12 ft (2.6–3.2 m)
Installed power:
Propulsion:
  • 1 ×2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine[Note 1]
  • 2 × boilers
  • 1 × screw
Sail plan: Three-masted barquentine rig
Speed: 10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement: 60
Armament:

Design and construction

Designed by Nathaniel Barnaby, Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy, the Forester-class gunboats were similar in every respect to the preceding Ariel-class gunboats.[2] They were fitted with a 2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine, although Moorhen and Sheldrake received a single-expansion direct-acting steam engine. These engines were rated for 60 nominal horsepower and generated between 387 ihp (289 kW) and 515 ihp (384 kW)).[2] They were armed with two 6-inch (150 mm) 64-pounder (56cwt) muzzle-loading rifles and two 4-inch (100 mm) 20-pounder Armstrong breech loaders. All 4 guns were mounted on traversing carriages. All the ships of the class carried a three-masted barquentine rig.[1]

Ships

NameShip BuilderLaunchedFate
CygnetWilliam Doxford & Sons, Sunderland30 May 1874Broken up in 1889
ExpressWilliam Doxford, Sunderland16 July 1874Sold in August 1889
ContestWilliam Doxford, Sunderland29 August 1874Broken up at Devonport in 1889
SheldrakeRobert Napier & Sons, Govan3 July 1875Drill ship, renamed Drake on 13 March 1888. Coastguard watch vessel, renamed WV29 in 1893. Renamed Drake in 1906. Sold to Meyer Isaacs on 3 April 1906
MallardEarle’s Shipbuilding, Hull4 August 1875Sold in August 1889
MoorhenRobert Napier & Sons, Govan13 September 1875Sold in November 1888
FoxhoundBarrow Iron Shipbuilding29 January 1877Coastguard in 1886. Coal tug in 1897, renamed YC20. Sold as hulk Arabel in 1920, and remained in Blackwall Reach on the River Thames for 55 years. Broken up in 1975
ForwardBarrow Iron Shipbuilding29 January 1877Coal hulk in 1892. Sold in 1904
FirmEarle’s Shipbuilding, Hull14 February 1877Sold to Cox for breaking up at Falmouth on 14 May 1907
ForesterEarle’s Shipbuilding, Hull26 February 1877Zulu War 1879. Coal hulk in 1894. Sold in 1904
FirebrandJ & G Thomson, Govan30 April 1877Sold in 1905, became mercantile Hoi Sin
FireflyJ & G Thomson, Govan28 June 1877Boom defence in 1904. Base ship on 3 April 1914, renamed Egmont. Renamed Firefly 1 in March 1923. Sold in May 1931

Notes

  1. With the exception of Moorhen and Sheldrake, which received similarly rated single-expansion direct-acting steam engines

References

  1. Winfield (2004), p.297
  2. Preston (2007) p.171
  • Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6.
  • Preston, Antony; Major, John (2007). Send a Gunboat: The Victorian Navy and Supremacy at Sea, 1854–1904 (2nd ed.). London: Conway. ISBN 978-0-85177-923-2.
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