HMS ''Miranda'' was a 14-gun (15-gun from 1856) wooden screw sloop of 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 ...

. As part of the 1847 Program, she was designed by John Fincham, Master Shipwright of Portsmouth and is considered an improved Rattler with the design approved on 3 November 1847. She was ordered on the 25th of April 1847 with the name ''Grinder'' from

Royal Dockyard Royal Navy Dockyards (more usually termed Royal Dockyards) were state-owned harbour facilities where ships of the Royal Navy were built, based, repaired and refitted. Until the mid-19th century the Royal Dockyards were the largest industrial ...

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby town ...

. On the 3rd of November 1847 she was reordered as the ''Miranda'' from Sheerness Dockyard. Launched in 1851, she was completed to see action in the Russian War of 1854 - 55. In 1854 she was in the White Sea and participated in the bombardment of the Port of Kola. She then participated in the Sea of Azov during 1855. Two of her crew were awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

for their bravery. Towards the end of her career she transported troops during the New Zealand war. She was reclassified as a

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

by 1862, She was sold for breaking in December 1869. Grinder was the second named vessel since it was introduced for a tender of unknown origin and sold on 22 August 1832. Miranda was the first named vessel in the Royal Navy.

Construction and specifications

Miranda’s keel was laid in September 1848 at

and launched on 18 March 1851.Lyon Winfield, page 213 Her gundeck was with her keel length reported for tonnage calculation of 169 feet . Her breadth reported for tonnage was . She had a depth of hold of . Her builder’s measure tonnage was 1,039 tons (as built 1,062) and displaced 1,350 tons. Her machinery was supplied by Robert Napier & Sons of Govan. She shipped two rectangular fire tube boilers. Her engine was a 2-cylinder horizontal single expansion (HSE) geared steam engine with cylinders of in diameter with a stroke, rated at . She had a single screw propeller driven through gearing. Her machinery was installed at Robert Napier and Sons shipyard in Glasgow at a cost of £14,235 during 1852. The pictorial record shows ''Miranda'' with a

full ship rig A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel's sail plan with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged. Such vessels also have each mast stepped in three se ...

in 1862, which makes it likely that she carried this rig for her entire life. Her initial armament consisted of fourteen Monk's ‘C’ 1839 32-pounder 42 hundredweight (cwt) muzzle loading smooth bore (MLSB) 8.5-foot solid shot guns on broadside trucks. In 1856 she was rearmed with a single 68-pounder MLSB of 87 cwt 10-foot solid shot gun on a pivot mount and ten Monk's ‘C’ 1839 32-pounder 42 cwt MLSB solid shot guns plus four Armstrong 20-pounder breach loading (BL) of 16 cwt on broadside trucks.

Trials

During trials Mirandas engine generated for a speed of . Miranda was completed for sea on 9 March 1854 at a cost of £48,393 (including hull of £24,232 and machinery of £14,235 and fitting £9,926).

Commissioned service

First commission

She commissioned at Sheerness on 25 February 1854 under the command of Captain Edmund M. Lyons, RN for service in the Baltic Sea during the Russian War of 1854 - 55.The Navy List, January 1855, page 161 She did not sail for the Baltic, instead she joined Captain Erasmus Ommanney's Squadron for service in the White Sea.Winfield, Chapter 12 The Squadron consisting of ''Eurydice'', ''Miranda'', ''Brisk'' plus two French ships scoured the White Sea for Russian Ships. Not finding any Russian Ships the Squadron destroyed the Port of

Kola KOLA (99.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Redlands, California, and broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire radio market. It is owned by the Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation and it airs a classic hits radio for ...

on the 24th of August before withdrawing before the onset of Winter. Her crew received the Baltic medal even though she did not serve in the Baltic. She returned to Portsmouth in September 1854. Miranda Brisk Novitska

In 1855 she deployed to the Black Sea for operations in the Sea of Azov. On 3 June 1855 at

Siege of Taganrog The siege of Taganrog is a name given in some Russian histories to Anglo-French naval operations in the Sea of Azov between June and November 1855 during the Crimean War. British and French forces were implementing a strategy of destroying the ...

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov ( Crimean Tatar: ''Azaq deñizi''; russian: Азовское море, Azovskoye more; uk, Азовське море, Azovs'ke more) is a sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, ...

Boatswain A boatswain ( , ), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, is the most senior rate of the deck department and is responsible for the components of a ship's hull. The boatswain supervi ...

Henry Cooper Sir Henry Cooper (3 May 19341 May 2011) was a British heavyweight boxer, best remembered internationally for a 1963 fight in which he knocked down a young Cassius Clay before the fight was stopped because of a cut eye from Clay's punches. Coo ...

and Lieutenant

Cecil William Buckley __NOTOC__ Captain Cecil William Buckley VC (7 October 1828 – 7 December 1872) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Comm ...

of ''Miranda'' landed destroying equipment and setting fire to government buildings. This despite the town being under bombardment and garrisoned by 3,000 Russian troops. For this action the pair were awarded the

. Captain

Edmund Moubray Lyons Captain Edmund Moubray Lyons (27 October 1819 – 23 June 1855) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the early nineteenth century, and was mortally wounded while commanding in the Crimean War. Early life Edmund Lyons was born on 2 ...

of ''Miranda'' reported on 29 May 1855 that in the first four days of the squadron entering the Sea of Azov, the enemy had lost four steamers of war, 246 merchant vessels, together with corn and flour magazines to the value of at least £150,000.London Gazett
Issue 21728 page 2299
dated 13 June 1855 During the Kerch operations on 17 June, Captain Lyons was mortally wounded, dying on the 23rd. Captain Robert Hall took Command on the 24th as the Senior Officer in the Strait of Kerch.The Navy List, October 1855, page 162 Upon the cessation of Hostilities, Miranda returned to Home Waters paying off at Sheerness on 21 April 1857.

Second commission

''Miranda'' recommissioned at Sheerness on 4 October 1860 under the command of Commander Henry C. Glyn, RN for the

Australia Station The Australia Station was the British, and later Australian, naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent.Dennis et al. 2008, p.53. Australia Station was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station, ...

. During the early 1860s she took part in the

New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the M ...

; in 1863 being used to land troops at Pūkorokoro,

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

(later renamed Miranda in her honour). On 29 August 1861 Captain Robert Jenkins assumed command.The Navy List, January 1862, page 181 She returned to Sheerness to decommission on 3 June 1865.

Disposal

''Miranda'' was sold for breaking to C Lewis on 2 December 1869.

Notes

References

* Lyon Winfield, The Sail & Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815 to 1889, by David Lyon & Rif Winfield, published by Chatham Publishing, London © 2004, * The Navy List, published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London * Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail (1817 – 1863), by Rif Winfield, published by Seaforth Publishing, England © 2014, e, Chapter 12 Screw Sloops, Vessels ordered or reordered as steam screw sloops (from 1845), Reynard * Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy, by J.J. Colledge, revised and updated by Lt Cdr Ben Warlow and Steve Bush, published by Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, Great Britain, © 2020, e (EPUB), Section G (Grinder) Section M (Miranda) {{DEFAULTSORT:Miranda (1851) Sloops of the Royal Navy Victorian-era sloops of the United Kingdom Ships built in Sheerness 1851 ships Crimean War naval ships of the United Kingdom