HMS Cormorant was an Osprey-class

Osprey class sloop

The Osprey class was a Royal Navy class of screw-driven sloops built between 1874 and 1877. Nine additional ships were built to a revised design, the . They were the first class of ship in the Royal Navy to use glass scuttles.-Design:...

 sloop

Sloop

A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

 launched at Chatham on 12 September 1877 and later the receiving ship at Gibraltar. She was renamed Rooke in 1946 and broken up in 1949.

Design

The Osprey class were of composite construction, with wooden hulls over an iron frame. They were designed by 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....

, William Henry White

William Henry White

Sir William Henry White was a prolific British warship designer and Chief Constructor at the Admiralty....

 and five were ordered. Of 1,130 tons displacement and approximately 950 indicated horsepower, they were capable of approximately 11 knots and were armed with two 7" muzzle loading rifled guns on pivoting mounts, and four 64-pound guns

RML 64 pounder 64 cwt gun

The RML 64 pounder 64 cwt gun was a Rifled, Muzzle Loading naval, field or fortification artillery gun manufactured in England in the 19th century, which fired a projectile weighing approximately...

 (two on pivoting mounts, and two broadside). They had a crew complement of approximately 140 men.

Construction

Cormorant was laid down at Chatham Royal Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

 in 1875 and launched on 12 September 1877. She was commissioned on 2 July 1878.

History

The primary purpose of ships of the class was to maintain British

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

 naval dominance through trade protection, anti-slavery, and surveying.

In 1879 she served on the Australia Station

Australia Station

The Australia Station was the British—and later Australian—naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent.-History:In the early years following the establishment of the colony of New South Wales, ships based in Australian waters came under the control of the East Indies...

, and in April 1886 she was on the Pacific Station

Pacific Station

The Pacific Station, often referred to as the Pacific Squadron, was one of the geographical divisions into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities...

. On 20 July 1887 she became the first vessel to use the newly built graving dock at the Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard.

Fate

Cormorant became a receiving ship at Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 in 1889, was renamed HMS Rooke in 1946 and was scrapped in 1949, being broken up at Malaga

Málaga

Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...

.