HMS ''Arab'' was an

composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...

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-stea ...

built 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 ...

in 1874. She served in the East Indies and was sold in 1889.

Design and construction

Nathaniel Barnaby Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, (25 February 1829 – 16 June 1915) was Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1872 to 1885. Biography Born on 25 February 1829 in Chatham, Barnaby began his career as a naval apprentice at Sheerness in 1843. He won ...

, the Royal Navy's

Chief Constructor The Director of Naval Construction (DNC) also known as the Department of the Director of Naval Construction and Directorate of Naval Construction and originally known as the Chief Constructor of the Navy was a senior principal civil officer resp ...

, ''Arab'' was ordered from the

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...

yard of

Robert Napier and Sons Messrs Robert Napier and Sons was a famous firm of River Clyde, Clyde shipbuilders and marine engineers at Govan, City of Glasgow, Glasgow founded by Robert Napier (engineer), Robert Napier in 1826. It was moved to Govan for more space in 1841. Hi ...

in 1873 and laid down the same year as yard number 333. She was launched on 13 October 1874 and commissioned at Devonport in August 1875. Her hull was built of iron frames and ribs, and planked in wood. This "

" construction was both cheap and easy to repair and allowed the wooden planking to be coppered, reducing marine growth. On far-flung colonial stations, the benefits of both simple repair and reduced marine growth were particularly positive, due to a lack of substantial ship repair and careening facilities. For this reason, smaller vessels like the ''Arab'' class continued to use composite construction until long after larger vessels had transitioned to iron or steel construction.

Propulsion

Steam was provided at by 3

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...

s to a single 2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine generating . A single screw was provided, which could be hoisted clear of the water to improve the ship's hull lines when sailing. She achieved a trials speed of under power. A sailing rig was provided, with square rig on the fore and main masts, and fore-and-aft rigging only on the mizzen, giving her a "

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

" rig.

Armament

A single

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rifled muzzle-loading gun amidships and two 6.3-inch 64-pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns, one forward and one aft, and both fitted on traversing slides, constituted her main armament. Two machine guns and a light gun were also fitted. ''Arab'' (but not her sister ship, ''Lily'') was re-armed in about 1879, with the after 6.3-inch 64-pounder gun replaced by three 20-pounder breech-loading guns under a newly constructed poop deck.

Service

''Arab'' served on the East Indies station. In January 1876, she ran aground on a reef off

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and was severely damaged. She was refloated and temporary repairs were made. She sailed for

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

on 11 January for permanent repairs. ''Arab'' was ordered to return home in 1879, receiving a revised armament at about that time.

Fate

''Arab'' was sold in 1889.

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arab, HMS Ships built in Govan Arab-class gunvessels 1874 ships Maritime incidents in January 1876