''Intrepid''-class gunvessels were a class of six

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 ...

first-class wooden

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 in 1855-56. They were rated as sloops from 1859 to 1862,Except ''Victor'', which remained a gunvessel throughout the period and were scrapped by 1865. ''Victor'' was sold to the Confederate States of America as the raider CSS ''Rappahannock'', but she was interned by the French at Calais and never fulfilled her intended function.

Design and construction

Designed in 1855, the ''Intrepid''-class gunvessels were intended to serve in the shallow waters of the Black and Baltic seas during 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 ...

.Winfield (2008) p. 218 They were built quickly, and of inferior wood, which explains their short lifespan of 10 years.

Propulsion

A two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine produced between and through a single screw, giving a speed of about . Twin funnels distinguished them from most other British classes of gunvessel.

Sail plan

The vessels of the class were designed to be barque-rigged, which required less manpower than the traditional

full-rigged ship 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 ...

Armament

The ''Intrepid''-class gunvessels were designed with one 68-pounder muzzle-loading rifle and four 32-pounder (25cwt) muzzle-loading smoothbore guns. This armament was later replaced with a single 7-inch/110-pounder breech loader, one 40-pounder breech loader and four 20 pounder breech loaders.

Ships

The first pair were ordered on 18 April 1855, the second pair were ordered on 15 May 1855, and the final pair were ordered on 27 July 1855. A further two were ordered on 9 April 1856 from Pembroke Dockyard, but were cancelled.

Notes

Citations

References

* * {{Intrepid class gunvessels Intrepid Gunboat classes