HMS Espiegle (1880)
HMS Espiegle was a Doterel-class sloop of the Royal Navy, built at the Devonport Dockyard and launched on 3 August 1880.[2] DesignThe Doterel class was designed by Nathaniel Barnaby as a development of William Henry White's 1874 Osprey-class sloop. The graceful clipper bow of the Ospreys was replaced by a vertical stem and the engines were more powerful. The hull was of composite construction, with wooden planks over an iron frame.[1] PropulsionPower was provided by three cylindrical boilers, which supplied steam at 60 pounds per square inch (410 kPa) to a two-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine driving a single 13-foot-1-inch (3.99 m) screw. This arrangement produced 1,020 indicated horsepower (760 kW) and a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h).[1] ArmamentShips of the class were armed with two 7-inch (90cwt) muzzle-loading rifled guns on pivoting mounts, and four 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns (two on pivoting mounts, and two broadside). Four machine guns and one light gun completed the weaponry.[1] Sail planAll the ships of the class were provided with a barque rig,[1] that is, square-rigged foremast and mainmast, and fore-and-aft sails only on the mizzen mast. CrewEspiegle would have had a normal complement of 140–150 men.[1] ConstructionEspiegle was ordered from Devonport Dockyard and laid down on 23 September 1879. She was launched on 3 August 1880 and was commissioned on 11 October 1881[1] at Devonport.[3] ServiceShe commenced service on the Australia Station in November 1881.[2] She left the Australia Station in March 1885 and went to the China Station. She assisted during the Chilean Revolt in 1891. She was fitted out as a boom defence vessel in 1899 and stationed at Southampton; she was renamed Argo in 1902.[1] FateShe was sold to W. Thorpe for breaking on 25 August 1921.[1] References
|