Ariel-class gunboat

	HMS Coquette, by William Frederick Mitchell (1873)
Class overview
Name	Ariel-class gunboats
Builders	Pembroke Dockyard; Chatham Dockyard;
Operators	Royal Navy; British Merchant Navy;
Preceded by	Britomart class
Succeeded by	Forester class
Cost	Hull £10,600, machinery £3,900 (Swinger)
Built	1871–1873
In commission	1871–1895
Completed	9
Lost	0
General characteristics
Class and type	Composite gunboat
Displacement	430 tons; (except Ariel & Zephyr – 438 tons);
Tons burthen	295 bm
Length	125 ft 0 in (38.1 m)
Beam	22 ft 6 in (6.9 m); (except Ariel & Zephyr – 23 ft);
Draught	10 ft 3 in (3.1 m) max
Installed power	60 nhp
Propulsion	1 × 2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine (except Swinger – single-expansion); 2 × boilers; 1 × (hoisting) screw;
Sail plan	Three-masted barquentine rig
Speed	9.5 kn (17.6 km/h)
Complement	40 (later 60)
Armament	2 × 6-inch (150 mm) 64-pounder (56cwt) muzzle-loading rifles; 2 × 4-inch (100 mm) 20-pounder Armstrong breech loaders;

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.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.