Britomart-class gunboat

HMS Cherub Goderich, Lake Huron in 1866
Class overview
Name	Britomart class
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Algerine class
Succeeded by	Ariel class
Built	1859–1867
In commission	1860–1890
Planned	20
Completed	16
Cancelled	4
General characteristics [1]
Type	'Crimean' gunboat
Displacement	330 tons
Tons burthen	267 82⁄94 bm
Length	120 ft 0 in (36.6 m) (gundeck) 105 ft 7 in (32.18 m) (keel)
Beam	22 ft 0 in (6.7 m)
Depth of hold	9 ft 0 in (2.7 m)
Installed power	60 nhp 157–277 ihp (117–207 kW))
Propulsion	1 × 1-cylinder single-expansion reciprocating steam engine 1 × screw
Speed	9 kn (17 km/h)
Crew	36–40
Armament	2 × 68-pounder SBML gun or 2 × 64-pounder RML gun

The Britomart-class gunboat was a class of sixteen gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1859–1867.

The Britomart class was an improved version of the Dapper class designed by W.H. Walker, and as such comes under the generic group "Crimean gunboats" although this class was ordered and built long after the end of the Crimean War. These were the last Royal Navy gunboats to have wooden hulls: subsequent gunboats were of composite construction, with wooden planking over iron frames.^[1]

The class were fitted with a single-cylinder single-expansion reciprocating steam engine. The single screw could be hoisted to give improved performance under sail.^[1]

The ships were provided with a three-masted barquentine rig, that is, with square sails on the foremast and fore-and-aft sails on the main and mizzen masts.^[1]

Early ships of the class were armed with two 68-pounder smooth bore muzzle loading cannon (as had been planned, but not implemented, for the Dapper class); but the Heron was fitted with two 112-pounder Armstrong guns. Later ships had two 64-pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns.^[1]

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.