 HMSVestal moored in Australia at an unknown date | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Amazon-class sloop |
| Builders | |
| Operators |  Royal Navy |
| Preceded by | Rosario-class sloop |
| Succeeded by | Eclipse-class sloop |
| Built | 1865–1866 |
| In commission | 1865–1885 |
| Completed | 6 |
| Lost | 2 |
| Retired | 4 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Screw sloop |
| Displacement | 1,525–1,640 long tons (1,549–1,666 metric tons) |
| Length | 56.99 m (187 ft) |
| Beam | 10.97 m (36 ft) |
| Draught | 4.69 m (15 ft) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Sail plan | Barque |
| Speed | 12–13knots (22–24 km/h; 14–15 mph) |
| Complement | 150 |
| Armament |
|
TheAmazon-class sloop was a series of six woodenscrew sloops operated by the Royal Navy between 1865 and 1885. The design was inspired by theAmerican Civil War whereConfederatecommerce raiders attackedUnion merchant ships. The sloops were intended to be fast and powerful enough to destroy enemy commerce raiders at long range to defend British trade. Only one ship was able to reach the intended top speed of 13knots (24 km/h; 15 mph), which was considered a major shortcoming of the design. An attempt to fix the flaw was the initial basis for the laterEclipse-class sloop.
When in service, the sloops were sent across theBritish Empire.Amazon was sunk in a collision soon after she was completed andNiobe ran aground off Canada in 1874. Ships of the class performed exceedingly well in suppressing theIndian Ocean slave trade in the late 1860s and early 1870s, and three of the ships were rearmed with an uniform armament that decade. By the early 1880s, the ships were worn and withdrawn from service.
At the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War in 1861, the rebellingConfederate States lacked a large navy. TheConfederate Navy purchased several British-built ships to serve asblockade runners andprivateers. These ships impeded Union trade;CSS Alabama alone was responsible for destroying 65 merchant vessels.[1][2] Several of these ships were modeled after British warships, asAlabama was an enlarged version ofHMS Roebuck andCSS Florida incorporated the design of thePhilomel-class gun vessels. While theRoyal Navy initially attributed Confederate success to theUnion Navy's lack of fast ships, it soon became concerned that similarcommerce raiding tactics could target British trade in a future conflict.[3]
A new class of "light sloops" was therefore conceived, intended specifically to destroy commerce raiders.Alabama served as the template for the raider the new design needed to surpass. SinceAlabama had a theoretical top speed of 12knots (22 km/h; 14 mph), the new British design aimed for a speed of 13knots (24 km/h; 15 mph).[3] The armament was designed to match any commerce raider's capability and to enable the sloops to destroy an enemy at long range, as well as to bombard enemy land fortifications. The British sloops featured a battery of two 18 cm (7 in) and two 64 lb (29 kg)muzzle-loading rifles. The two 7-inch guns were centrally mounted onpivots, which gave them a widearc of fire, while less mobile 64-pounder guns were mounted on each side of the ship.[4][5]
The Royal Navy's 1864 construction program ordered three sloops built to this design:Amazon, Vestal, andNiobe. The following year's program ordered three more:Nymphe,Dryad andDaphne.[6] The class was designed byEdward Reed, and featured alength-to-beam ratio of 5 to 1 and a full hull form that only tapered at the extreme fore and aft. Due to timber shortages, shipyards had to source different kinds of wood, withteak,fir, andoak used throughout the class, though the exact types varied per ship. For instance,Amazon was built entirely of teak, whileDaphne was framed withEnglish oak and planked withItalian oak. Internal iron beams reinforced the hull structure, and the ships were the last all-wooden sloops in the Navy. The ships had a length of 56.99 m (187 ft), abeam of 10.97 m (36 ft), adraft of 4.69 m (15 ft), andbarque rigging with a complement of 150 sailors. The displacement also varied:Amazon was the lightest at 1,525 long tons (1,549 metric tons), whileDaphne was the heaviest at 1,640 long tons (1,670 metric tons).[4] Compared to traditional British sloops, which used a sharpclipper bow to support thebowsprit, theAmazon-class featured acruiser stern and a ram-shaped bow. The primary purpose of this sharp bow was not to serve as a ram, but to provide additional buoyancy.[6]
The ships carried several boats: a 8.2 m (27 ft)-longpinnace located amidships between theforemast andfunnel, a 7.6 m (25 ft)-long steamcutter on thequarterdeck, two 7.6 m (25 ft)cutters behind the main mast, and a 4.9 m (16 ft)jolly boat astern. The machinery on each ship varied by builder and horsepower, but all were propelled by four boilers that fed steam at 30–32 pounds per square inch (210–220 kPa) to a horizontalsingle-expansion engine, which turned a 4.6 m (15 ft)-widepropeller. While under sail, the ships could reach 11knots (20 km/h; 13 mph). However, onlyNymphe was able to achieve the 13-knot goal under power, while the other five fell slightly short.[4] In 1866, the Royal Navy planned to expand the class, but was unsatisfied with the poor speed. The design was enlarged in an attempt to improve speed and lead to the sevenEclipse-class sloops. Plans to improve upon theAmazon-class design were soon abandoned, culminating with theEclipse-class being larger and slower then the base design.[7]
| Name | Keel laid | Builder | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 1864 | Pembroke Dockyard | 23 May 1865 | Sunk 10 July 1866 |
| Vestal | 1864 | Pembroke Dockyard | 16 November 1865 | Sold 1884 |
| Niobe | 1864 | Devonport Dockyard | 31 May 1866 | Wrecked 21 May 1874 |
| Dryad | 1865 | Devonport Dockyard | 25 September 1866 | Sold 1885 |
| Daphne | 1865 | Pembroke Dockyard | 23 October 1866 | Sold 1882 |
| Nymphe | 1865 | Devonport Dockyard | 24 November 1865 | Sold 1882 |
Amazon was the first to be launched in 1865. After initial trials to measure the capabilities of the new class, she was assigned to theNorth America Station. On 9 July, the sloop was sailing toBermuda when she collided with thesteamshipOsprey. Both ships sank, killing 12 onOsprey and one onAmazon.Niobe was launched in 1866 and primarily operated off North America, first to enforce British interests in the Caribbean, before being assigned to the fishery patrol off theGrand Banks of Newfoundland. On 21 May 1874, visibility and weather conditions were extremely poor, and she attempted to shelter behindMiquelon Island during a storm. The tide threw the ship against a set of rocks, wrecking the ship. The crew evacuated, although two died when one of the boatscapsized.[9]
Between the 1860s and 1880s, the Royal Navy stationed several ships to suppress the slave trade betweenEast Africa andArabian Peninsula.Dryad,Daphne, andNymphe spent most of their early career as part of the mission, and the three ships shared £30,000 from captured dhows and freed slaves.[10] In late 1868,Daphne was the most successful British anti-slave ship in the region when the rest of the squadron was preoccupied with theBritish expedition to Abyssinia.Daphne's tactics of loitering in different chokepoints based on the current season was adopted byDryad andNymphe who operated independently as part of their own squadron. This approach made them the most prolific anti-slave ships in the Navy at the time.[11] In comparison,Vestal spent most of her uneventful service life in theEast Indies.[12]
In the early 1870s, the Royal Navy revamped its ordnance policy. As part of the reforms,Dryad,Nymphe, andVestal were rearmed with nine 64 lb (29 kg) guns. Four were on the broadside while an additional gun was mounted on the bow. This gun could fire through threegun ports on thecenterline or either side of the ship. In addition, one of the guns could be dragged to fire out of a rear gun port to serve as a stern gun. The rearmed ships had their complement increased to 170.[13][4] The remaining four ships were decommissioned in the early 1880s due to their age and excessive wear.[14]