Highflyer-class corvette

HMS Highflyer
Profile of Highflyer dated 1863
Class overview
NameHighflyer class
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byNone
Succeeded byHMS Pylades
Built1851–1854
In service1852–1871
Completed2
Scrapped2
General characteristics [1]
TypeWooden screw corvette
Displacement1,737+1⁄2 tons
Tons burthen1,153 bm
Length
  • 192 ft (59 m) oa
  • 167 ft 3+3⁄4 in (50.997 m) pp
Beam36 ft 4 in (11.07 m)
Draught15 ft 9 in (4.80 m)
Depth of hold22 ft 8 in (6.91 m)
Installed power
  • Highflyer: 702 ihp (523 kW)
  • Esk: 657 ihp (490 kW)
Propulsion
  • Highflyer:
  • 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine
  • Single screw
  • Esk:
  • 2-cylinder inclined single-expansion oscillating steam engine
  • Single screw
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Speed9.4 kn (17.4 km/h) under steam
Armament
  • As built:
  • 21 guns:
  • 1 × 10-inch/84-pdr (85cwt) gun
  • 20 × 32-pounder (42cwt) long guns
  • Later:
  • 1 × 10-inch/84-pdr (85cwt) gun
  • 18 × 8-inch guns

The Highflyer-class corvettes were a pair of 21-gun wooden screw corvettes built in the 1850s for the Royal Navy.

Design

Highflyer was ordered as a small wooden frigate to a design by the Surveyor's Department of the Admiralty on 25 April 1847; she and her sister Esk were re-designated as corvettes in 1854. These ships were envisaged as steam auxiliaries, intended to cruise under sail with the steam engine available for assistance. Commensurately they were provided with a full square sailing rig. Esk was built in exchange for HMS Greenock (which went to the Australian Royal Mail Co.) The words of the Admiralty Order stated she should be "a wood screw vessel complete of Highflyer's [class] in exchange when built".[1]

Propulsion

Highflyer was given a geared two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine, provided by Maudslay, Sons & Field, which developed 702 indicated horsepower (523 kW) and drove a single screw.[1] Esk was provided with an oscillating two-cylinder inclined single-expansion steam engine, provided by the builders, was quite different from Highflyer's, but developed broadly the same power — 657 indicated horsepower (490 kW) — and drove a single screw.[1]

Armament

The class was a 21-gun corvette, mounting twenty 32-pounder (42 cwt) long guns in a broadside arrangement, and a single 10-inch 84-pounder (85 cwt) gun on a pivot. Both ships later swapped their broadside 32-pounders for eighteen 8-inch guns.[1]

Construction

Highflyer was built at Leamouth Wharf by C J Mare & Co., while Esk was ordered from the Millwall yard of J. Scott Russell & Co. on the River Thames.[1]

Ships

Ship Builder Laid down Launched Completed Fate
Highflyer C J Mare & Co.[1] January 1850[1] 13 August 1851[1] 10 April 1852[1] Broken up, May 1871[1]
Esk J. Scott Russell & Co.[1] April 1853[1] 12 June 1854[1] 21 December 1854[1] Broken up, 1870[1]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Winfield (2004), p. 207

References

  • Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (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.