Redbreast-class gunboat

The Redbreast class comprised nine first-class screw-driven composite gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1889, mounting six guns.

HMS Sparrow
Class overview
Name: Redbreast-class gunboats
Builders:
Operators:
  •  Royal Navy
  • New Zealand Government
  • British Merchant Navy
Cost:
  • Between £38,000 (Widgeon)
  • and £39,300 (Ringdove)[1]
Built: 1889
In commission: 1889–1921
Completed: 9
Lost: 1
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Redbreast-class first-class gunvessel
Displacement: 805 tons
Length: 165 ft 0 in (50.3 m) pp
Beam: 31 ft 0 in (9.4 m)
Draught: 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m) min, 13 ft 9 in (4.19 m) max
Installed power: 1,200 ihp (890 kW)
Propulsion:
  • Triple expansion steam engine
  • 2 × boilers
  • Single screw
Sail plan: Barquentine-rigged
Speed: 13 kn (24 km/h)
Range: 2,500 nmi (4,600 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)[1]
Complement: 76
Armament:

Construction

Design

The Redbreast class were designed by Sir William Henry White, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction in 1888.[1] The hull was of composite construction, that is, iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts with wooden planking. These were the last class of composite-hulled gunboats built for the Royal Navy - the next class of gunboat, the Bramble-class gunboat of 1898, was of steel construction.

Propulsion

The class was fitted with a triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine developing 1,200 indicated horsepower, sufficient to propel them at 13 kn (24 km/h) through a single screw.

Sail plan

The class was given a barquentine rig.

Armament

The first four ships were armed with six 4-inch/25-pounder (25cwt) quick firing guns and four machine guns. The last five had an additional pair of 3-pounder quick firing guns in place of two of the machine guns.[1]

Ships
NameShip builderLaunchedFate
MagpiePembroke Dockyard15 March 1889Boom defence vessel in 1902. Gunboat in 1915, depot ship in October 1915. Sold to Duguid & Stewart on 29 December 1921[1]
RedbreastPembroke Dockyard25 April 1889[2]Sold in 1910[1]
RedpolePembroke Dockyard13 June 1889Served on the China Station. Sold to Cox for breaking at Falmouth on 15 May 1906[1]
RingdoveDevonport Dockyard30 April 1889Became a salvage vessel on 7 December 1915, renamed Melita. Sold to Ship Salvage Corporation on 22 January 1920,[1] and renamed Telima, she was broken up in the second quarter of 1926.[3]
LapwingDevonport Dockyard12 April 1889Sold at Bombay on 10 November 1910[1]
GoldfinchSheerness Dockyard18 May 1889Survey vessel in February 1902. Sold for breaking on 14 May 1907[1]
ThrushScott's, Greenock22 June 1889Coastguard in 1906, cable ship in 1915, salvage vessel in 1916. Wrecked off Glenarm, Northern Ireland on 11 April 1917[1]
WidgeonPembroke Dockyard9 August 1889Sold to Castle for breaking at Charlton on 15 May 1906[1]
SparrowScott's, Greenock26 September 1889Transferred to New Zealand as a training ship on 10 July 1906, renamed Amokura. Sold as a coal hulk in February 1922. Broken up in 1955[1]
HMS Ringdove dressed overall at Melbourne in 1896

References
  1. Winfield (2004), pp.299-300
  2. .http://newspapers.library.wales/search?alt=full_text%3Alaunch+of+the+redbreast&range%5Bmin%5D=1888-1-01T00%3A00%3A00Z&range%5Bmax%5D=1890-12-31T00%3A00%3A00Z
  3. "1132764". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
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