For the 1894 class of protected cruiser see:Eclipse-class cruiser

Eclipse class cruiser

The Eclipse-class cruisers of the Royal Navy were protected cruisers constructed in the mid-1890s.-Design and history:They were enlarged versions of the preceding Astraea class. Between 1903 and 1905, all of the ships in the class except for Eclipse had their mixed and guns removed and replaced...

The Eclipse class was a class

Ship class

A ship class is a group of ships of a similar design. This is distinct from a ship-type, which might reflect a similarity of tonnage or intended use. For example, the is a nuclear aircraft carrier of the Nimitz class....

 of seven 6-gun wooden screw sloop

Sloop-of-war

In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...

s built for the 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...

 between 1867 and 1870. They were re-armed and re-classified as 12-gun corvette

Corvette

A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...

s in 1876. Two further vessel were proposed but never ordered.

Design

A development of the Amazon class

Amazon class sloop

The Amazon class was a class of six screw sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1865 and 1866.-Design:Designed by Edward Reed, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction, they were equipped with a ram bow...

, they were designed by Edward Reed

Edward James Reed

Sir Edward James Reed , KCB, FRS, was a British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870...

, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction

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....

. The hull was of wooden construction, but with iron cross-beams, and a ram bow was fitted.

Propulsion

Propulsion was provided by a two-cylinder horizontal steam engine driving a single screw. Spartan, Sirius and Tenedos had compound steam engines, and the remainder of the class had single-expansion steam engines.

Sail plan

All the ships of the class were built with a ship rig, but this was replaced with a barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

rig.

Armament

The Eclipse class was designed with two 7-inch (6½-ton) muzzle loading rifled guns mounted in traversing slides and four 64-pounder muzzle loading rifled guns. They were re-classified as corvettes in 1876, carrying a homogenous armament of twelve 64-pounder muzzle loading rifled guns.

Ships

Name	Ship Builder	|Launched	|Fate
	Portsmouth Dockyard	21 May 1867	Lent to the War Department as a hulk in 1886 and sold on 15 May 1906
	Chatham Dockyard	17 August 1867	Sold to Castle for breaking in September 1886
	Sheerness Dockyard	14 November 1867	Lent to the War Department as a hulk for storage of mines from 1888 to 1892. Sold in 1921
	Portsmouth Dockyard	24 April 1868	Sold to Castle for breaking at Charlton in 1885
	Deptford Dockyard	14 November 1868	|Sold to Castle for breaking on 7 November 1882
	Portsmouth Dockyard	23 October 1869	Hulked in 1886. Renamed Actaeon II in 1906. Sold to J B Garnham for breaking on 17 July 1922
	Devonport Dockyard	13 May 1870	Sold to G Pethwick of Plymouth for breaking in November 1887
Proserpine	-	-	Authorised on 18 December 1866 but never ordered
Diomede	-	-	Authorised on 18 December 1866 but rescinded on 30 April 1867

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