BOOMERANG torpedo gunboats (1891)
Boomerang 1900
| Name | No | Yard No | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Comp | Fate |
| Boomerang (ex-Whiting) | Armstrong, Elswick, UK | 17.8.1888 | 24.7.1889 | 2.1891 | sold 7.1905 | ||
| Karakatta (ex-Wizard) | Armstrong, Elswick, UK | 17.8.1888 | 27.8.1889 | 2.1891 | sold 1.1905 |
|
Displacement normal, t |
735 |
|
Displacement full, t |
|
|
Length, m |
70.1 pp |
|
Breadth, m |
8.23 |
|
Draught, m |
3.20 |
|
No of shafts |
2 |
|
Machinery |
2 3-cyl VTE, 4 locomotive boilers |
|
Power, h. p. |
natural draught: 2500, forced draught: 3600 |
|
Max speed, kts |
natural draught: 16.5, forced draught: 19 |
|
Fuel, t |
coal 100 |
| Endurance, nm(kts) | 2500(10) |
|
Armament |
2 x 1 - 120/40 QF Mk I/II/III/IV, 4 x 1 - 47/40 3pdr Hotchkiss Mk I, 1 - 356 TT (bow, aw), 2 x 2 - 356 TT (8 at all) |
|
Complement |
91 |
Project history: This numerically large class showed a considerable increase in size over the Grasshoppers, and was sometimes known as the Assaye or Gossamer class. One of the torpedo tubes was fixed in the bow, the others in paired mounts on either side amidships. The resemblance to contemporary small cruisers was marked. Whilst the vessels built in the Royal Dockyards were allocated to the Royal Navy (provided under the Naval Defence Act, 1889), the four built by Armstrong were allocated to colonial stations, two to the Royal Indian Marine, and two (names were changed in 1890) to the Australian station. The original intention had been to fit a similar gun armament to the Grasshoppers (l- 102mm, 6-47mm) but trials at Elswick had shown that the 120mm QF gun could fire 10 times per minute as against 2 times for the old 102mm BL so the new gun was adopted instead. Initially the class suffered from hull weakness.
Modernizations: None.
Naval service: No significant events.
© Ivan Gogin, 2015