The ''Cormorant''-class gunvessels (sometimes known as ''Eclipse''-class gunvessels) were a class of 4-gun first-class

gunvessel A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

s built for the Royal Navy in the 1860s. They were somewhat unsuccessful; intended for shore bombardment in shallow water, they exceeded their design draft by 50%. Seven of the 13 ships ordered were suspended, with 3 finished or converted as survey ships and the other 4 cancelled. ''Racehorse'' was wrecked after only 4 years, and those ships that were completed as planned had short operational lives, in some cases less than 10 years. The survey vessels (''Myrmidon'', ''Sylvia'' and ''Nassau'') lasted longest, with the last ship of the class, ''Sylvia'', being broken up in 1890.

Design

Propulsion

The first 6 ships had a 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine provided by Robert Napier and Sons and rated at 200

nominal horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

, driving a single screw. On trials these units developed between and , giving speeds of about . ''Sylvia'' and ''Nassau'' were completed as survey ships and were powered by 150 nhp Humphreys and Tennant engines. ''Myrmidon'' received a more powerful 200 nhp Humphreys and Tennant engine.

Armament

The main armament, which was principally intended for shore bombardment, was originally designed with two

68-pounder The 68-pounder cannon was an artillery piece designed and used by the British Armed Forces in the mid-19th century. The cannon was a smoothbore muzzle-loading gun manufactured in several weights, the most common being , and fired projectiles of ...

and two 32-pounder muzzle-loading smoothbore guns. They were finished, however, with a single 7-inch/110-pounder Armstrong breech-loading gun and a 68-pounder muzzle-loading smoothbore gun. A pair of broadside 20-pounder Armstrong breech-loading guns were also fitted. The 68-pounders were later replaced by a pair of 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns.

Sail plan

In common with all other Royal Navy wooden screw gunvessels, the ''Cormorant''s were rigged as barques, that is with three masts, with the fore and main masts square rigged, and the mizzen fore-and-aft rigged.

Construction

The first 6 ships were ordered from commercial yards (

Money Wigram & Sons Money Wigram (14 March 1790 – March 1873) was an English shipbuilder and ship owner, and a director of the Bank of England. Life Wigram was born in Walthamstow in 1790, a son of Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet and his wife Eleanor. From 1806 he wo ...

, C J Mare & Co and J Scott Russell), with fitting out to be done in the Royal Dockyards at Chatham (first pair) and Woolwich (last 4). A further batch of 4 ships (''Sylvia'' - ''Myrmidon'') were ordered on 5 March 1860 and another batch of 3 (''Pegasus'' - ''Guernsey'') on 25 March 1862. The first completed ships had a draught of , exceeding the intended by a considerable margin. Since gunvessels were intended to work in shallow water while bombarding the shore, work on the later two batches was suspended. ''Sylvia'', ''Nassau'' and ''Myrmidon'' were suspended in 1862 or 1863, but were resumed, with ''Sylvia'' and ''Nassau'' being finished as survey vessels. ''Tartarus'' was broken up on the slipway in 1865, having cost £6,268 and work to ''Pegasus'' cost only £339. ''Guernsey'' was never laid down.

Ships

References and sources

;References ;Sources *Bastock, John (1988), ''Ships on the Australia Station'', Child & Associates Publishing Pty Ltd; Frenchs Forest, Australia. * * {{Cormorant class gunvessel 1860 ships Gunvessels of the Royal Navy Victorian-era gunboats of the United Kingdom