.jpg) HMSGannet in its dock inChatham, 2005 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSGannet |
| Builder | Sheerness Royal Dockyard |
| Cost | Hull £39,581, machinery £12,889[1] |
| Laid down | 1877 |
| Launched | 31 August 1878 |
| Commissioned | 17 April 1879 |
| Decommissioned | 16 March 1895 |
| Fate |
|
| General characteristics[1] | |
| Class & type | Doterel-class screw compositesloop |
| Displacement | 1,130 tons |
| Length | 170 ft 0 in (51.8 m)pp |
| Beam | 36 ft 0 in (11.0 m) |
| Draught | 15 ft 9 in (4.8 m) |
| Installed power | 1,107 ihp (825 kW) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Sail plan | Ship-rigged originally and at present;barque-rigged in the middle of her career. |
| Speed | 11.5knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph) |
| Range | 1,480 nmi (2,740 km; 1,700 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 140 |
| Armament |
|
HMSGannet is aRoyal NavyDoterel-class screwsloop-of-war launched on 31 August 1878. It became a training ship in the Thames in 1903, and was then loaned as a training ship for boys in the Hamble from 1913. It was restored in 1987 and is now part of the UK'sNational Historic Fleet.
TheDoterel class were a development of theOsprey-class sloops and were of composite construction, with wooden hulls over an iron frame. The original 1874 design by theChief Constructor,William Henry White was revised in 1877 bySir Nathaniel Barnaby and nine were ordered. Of 1,130 tons displacement and approximately 1,100indicated horsepower, they were armed with two 7"muzzle-loading rifled guns on pivoting mounts, and four64-pound guns (two on pivoting mounts, and two broadside). They had a crew of around 140 men.
Gannet was laid down atSheerness Royal Dockyard in 1877 and launched on 31 August 1878.[1] She was commissioned on 17 April 1879,[1] and was classified as both a sloop of war and a colonial cruiser. She was capable of nearly 12 knots under fullsteam or 15 knots under sail.[citation needed]
The primary purpose of ships of theGannet's class was to maintainBritish naval dominance through trade protection, anti-slavery, and long term surveying.
Gannet served her first commission from 17 April 1879 to 20 July 1883 on thePacific Station underAdmiral Rous de Horsey.[2] She sailed from Portsmouth, across the Atlantic and viaCape Horn to the port ofPanama City on the Pacific coast of Central America. She spent much time shadowing the events of theWar of the Pacific before embarking on a patrol around the Pacific. She returned to Sheerness to pay off in July 1883,[2] and underwent a two-year refit.
Gannet recommissioned at Sheerness on 3 September 1885 and sailed to join theMediterranean Fleet.[2] She was initially used to support the forces of Major-General SirGerald Graham during the firstSuakin Expedition in theSudan. Anti-slavery patrols took her into the Red Sea, searching suspicious ships.[2] On 11 September 1888, she was recalled from a mid-commission refit at Malta and ordered to relieveDolphin at the besieged port ofSuakin,Sudan. On 17 September she engaged anti-Anglo-Egyptian forces led byOsman Digna for nearly a month, firing 200 main armament shells and nearly 1,200 Nordenfelt rounds.[2]Gannet was relieved byStarling on 15 October and paid off at Malta on 1 November 1888.[2]
Gannet recommissioned almost immediately on 10 November 1888 and was assigned to perform surveying work throughout the Mediterranean. She paid off from her third commission in December 1891.[2]
She recommissioned on 26 January 1892 and spent three years conducting survey work in both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. She returned to Chatham and decommissioned on 16 March 1895.[2]
After four months out of commission, in December 1895,Gannet was transferred to harbour service inChatham where she remained until 1900, when she was placed on the list of non-effective vessels.[2] In the autumn of 1900,Gannet was leased to theSouth Eastern & Chatham Railway Company as an accommodation hulk atPort Victoria railway station on theIsle of Grain.[3]
In 1903Gannet was ordered to relieve the originalHMSPresident of 1829, which had served as theRoyal Naval Volunteer Reserve drill ship in London Docks since 1862, and underwent major alterations to convert her into a drill ship. Renamed HMSPresident, she took up her new duties as the headquarters ship of the London Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in the South West India Docks in June 1903.[2] In 1909 the ship was renamedPresident II and in the spring of 1911, was relieved byHMSBuzzard, again placed on the list of non-effective vessels.
In 1913Gannet was loaned toC. B. Fry, and was stationed in theRiver Hamble, and became adormitory ship for theTraining ShipMercury (where she retained her namePresident). The school took young boys who otherwise might not have many options in life, and trained them to join the Royal Navy. The ship served in this capacity until 1968 when the school was closed.[2]
Back in Royal Navy stewardship, the ship was turned over to theMaritime Trust so that she could be restored. In 1987 theChatham Historic Dockyard charteredGannet from the Maritime Trust and started a restoration programme to return the ship to its 1888 appearance — the only time she saw naval combat. In 1994 ownership of the vessel was passed to the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, where, listed as part of theNational Historic Fleet, she remains on display as amuseum ship.
Theprime minister of the United Kingdom,Gordon Brown, on his first visit to US presidentBarack Obama at theWhite House inWashington, D.C. in March 2009, gave the new American president a gift of a pen holder made from the wood ofGannet, reflecting her role inVictoriananti-slavery efforts. This gift was reciprocated with a collection of 25 DVDs of classic American "Hollywood" films.[4]
Media related toHMSGannet (ship, 1878) at Wikimedia Commons51°23′46″N0°31′37″E / 51.396021°N 0.527016°E /51.396021; 0.527016