The Algerine-class gunvessel was a class of three Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 composite gunvessels built in 1880. Two of them were sold after only 10 years of service, but the other was converted to a survey ship before commissioning and survived in this role until 1907.

Design and construction

Designed in 1879 by Nathaniel Barnaby

Nathaniel Barnaby

Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, KCB was Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1872 to 1885....

, the Chief Constructor

Director of Naval Construction

The Director of Naval Construction was a senior British civil servant post in the Admiralty, that part of the British Civil Service that oversaw the Royal Navy. The post existed from 1860 to 1966....

 of the Royal Navy, the Algerine-class gunvessels were similar to the s of 1875, but with the addition of a poop deck. It had been found that the addition of both poop and focsle made gunvessels far more comfortable in the tropics; an awning spread between the two allowed men to sleep on the upper deck during hot nights. The composite method of construction used iron for the keel, stem, stern post and framing, with wooden planking. As well as the benefits of low cost, this construction allowed repairs to be conducted easily when away from well-equipped dockyards. This was the last class of composite gunvessels built for the Royal Navy.

Propulsion

A two-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine produced between 690 ihp and 760 ihp through a single screw, giving a speed of about 10.5 knots (20.6 km/h).

Sail plan

The vessels of the class were barque-rigged, but some of the pictures show yards on the mizzen mast, which would have made them ship rigged

Full rigged ship

A full rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square rigged. A full rigged ship is said to have a ship rig....

. The advantage of the barque rig was the need for less manpower, but on a distant station and with an experienced crew, and infrequent coaling stops, captains sometimes preferred to gain the greater sailing benefits of the ship rig, and had the flexibility to do so.

Armament

The Algerine-class gunvessels were designed with one 7 inches (177.8 mm) (4½ ton) muzzle-loading rifles, two 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifles, 2 machine guns and a light gun. The single 7-inch gun was later replaced by a pair of 5-inch breech-loading guns. Rambler, as a survey vessel, was finished with four 20-pdr breech loading guns

RBL 20 pounder Armstrong gun

The Armstrong Breech Loading 20 pounder gun, later known as RBL 20 pounder, was an early modern 3.75 inch rifled breech-loading light gun of 1859.-History:The gun was effectively a larger version of the successful RBL 12 pounder 8 cwt Armstrong gun...

, one machine gun and one light gun.

HMS Rambler

Rambler was commissioned in 1880 and served on the China Station, including a survey in Western Australia. In 1899 she contributed men to a naval brigade during the Boer War, and was sold in 1907.

HMS Ranger

Ranger served on the East Indies Station

East Indies Station

The East Indies Station was a formation of the British Royal Navy from 1865 to 1941.From 1831 to 1865 the East Indies and the China Station were a single command known as the East Indies and China Station...

. Having been sold in 1892, she was hired as an ammunition hulk during World War I.

HMS Algerine

Algerine commissioned in 1886, six years after she was launched.

Ships

Name	Ship Builder	|Launched	|Fate
	John Elder & Company, Fairfield	26 January 1880	Survey vessel in 1884. Sold on 23 January 1907
	John Elder & Company, Fairfield	12 February 1880	Sold as a salvage ship on 24 September 1892; re-acquired (on hire) from November 1914 to 1919 as an ammunition hulk. Broken up in 1947
	Harland & Wolff, Belfast	6 November 1880	Sold on 10 May 1892