The ''Arrow'' class comprised six second-class screw-driven vessels built as despatch vessels for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

in 1854, mounting 6 guns. In 1856 they were redesignated as second-class gunvessels.

Construction

Design

The

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

sparked a sudden need for shallow-draught, manoeuvrable vessels for inshore work in the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

. The ''Arrow'' class of six wooden-hulled screw steamers were built during 1854 to a design by the Surveyor’s Department. Construction was undertaken at two commercial yards on the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, R & H Green at

Blackwall Yard Blackwall Yard is a small body of water that used to be a shipyard on the River Thames in Blackwall, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987. History East India Company Blackwall was a sh ...

and C J Mare & Company, at Leamouth. Two further designs of Crimean War gunvessel were ordered during 1855, the ''Intrepid'' class and the ''Vigilant'' class, and in 1856 the six ''Arrow''-class despatch vessels were re-classed as second-class gunvessels.

Propulsion

A two-cylinder horizontal single expansion steam engine provided through a single

screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to fa ...

Sail plan

All ''Arrow''-class gunvessels were barque-rigged.

Armament

The ''Arrow'' class were provided with two 68-pounder Lancaster muzzle-loading rifles weighing on pivot mounts, and four 32-pounder guns.

Ships

Operational lives

''Wrangler'' was sent to the

on completion, and the others of the class to the

where they took part in the

. The Lancaster guns were not entirely successful and the class had their armament reduced, being employed in their original designation as despatch vessels.

References

* * {{Arrow class gunvessels Gunboat classes Arrow