Amethyst-class corvette
![](../I/m/HMS_Diamond_(1874)_AWM_302177.jpeg) |
Class overview |
Name: |
Amethyst-class |
Builders: |
Devonport Dockyard, Sheerness Dockyard |
Operators: |
Royal Navy |
Preceded by: |
Volage class |
Succeeded by: |
HMS Rover |
Built: |
1871–75 |
Completed: |
5 |
Scrapped: |
5 |
General characteristics (as built) |
Type: | Wooden screw corvette |
Displacement: | 1,934 long tons (1,965 t) |
Tons burthen: | 1,405 bm |
Length: | 220 ft (67.1 m) (p/p) |
Beam: | 37 ft (11.3 m) |
Draught: | 18 ft (5.5 m) |
Installed power: | 2,031–2,364 ihp (1,515–1,763 kW) |
Propulsion: | 1 shaft 1 × 2-cylinder compound expansion steam engine 6 cylindrical boilers |
Sail plan: | Ship rig |
Speed: | 12–13 knots (22–24 km/h; 14–15 mph) |
Range: | 2,060–2,500 nmi (3,820–4,630 km; 2,370–2,880 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement: | 225 |
Armament: | 14 × 64-pounder 71-cwt or 64-cwt rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns |
The Amythest-class corvettes were the last wooden warships built at a royal dockyard. Built in the early 1870s, they mostly served overseas and were retired early as they were regarded as hopelessly obsolete by the late 1880s.
Ships
Ship |
Builder |
Laid down |
Launched |
Completed |
Fate |
Cost |
Amethyst |
Devonport Dockyard[1] |
28 July 1871[2] |
19 April 1873[2] |
July 1873[2] |
Sold for scrap, November 1887[2] |
N/A |
Diamond |
Sheerness Dockyard[1] |
1873[2] |
26 August 1873[2] |
July 1875[2] |
Sold for scrap August 1889[2] |
£76,796[2] |
Encounter |
Sheerness Dockyard[1] |
19 June 1871[2] |
1 January 1873[2] |
July 1873[2] |
Sold for scrap October 1888[2] |
£63,098<ref name=NA87 p288">Brassey 1888, p. 288.</ref> |
Modeste |
Devonport Dockyard[1] |
27 November 1871[2] |
23 May 1873[2] |
January 1874[2] |
Sold for scrap, 8 January 1888[2] |
N/A |
Sapphire |
Devonport Dockyard[1] |
17 June 1873[2] |
24 September 1874[2] |
August 1875[2] |
Sold for scrap, 24 September 1892[2] |
£78,297[2] |
Notes
Footnotes
Bibliography
- Ballard, G. A. (1937). "British Corvettes of 1875: The Last Wooden Class". Mariner's Mirror (Cambridge, UK: Society for Nautical Research) 23 (October): 435–45.
- Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- Brassey, T. A. (1888). The Naval Annual 1887. London: J Griffin and Co.
- Winfield, Rif & Lyon, David (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. OCLC 52620555.