| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Opal |
| Builder: | William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland |
| Laid down: | 13 October 1873 |
| Launched: | 9 March 1875 |
| Fate: | sold in August 1892 for breaking up at Sheerness. |
| General characteristics | |
| Length: | 220 feet (between perpendiculars) |
| Beam: | 40 feet |
| Draught: | 16ft 6in forwards, 18ft aft |
| Complement: | 232 |
| Armament: | 14 (later 12) x 64-pounder MLR guns |
HMS Opal was an Emerald class corvette of the Royal Navy, laid down as HMS Magicienne and built by William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland and launched on 9 March 1875.[1]
She was completed with an armament of 14 64-pounder MLR guns (2 on bow and stern chasers, mounted on centre-line swivelling slides, and 12 on broadside slide mountings) and initially commenced service on the Pacific Station, and while on passage in 1876 hit a rock in the Strait of Magellan. She was damaged and repairs were undertaken at Esquimalt.[1] She returned to England in 1880 for refit, in which her broadside armament was reduced by 2 guns and she was re-rigged as a barque. She sailed for service on the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station in 1883, before commencing service on the Australia Station in 1885.[1] She returned to England in 1890 and was placed into reserve. She was sold for breaking up at Sheerness in August 1892.[1]