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fighting ships of the world

ROYAL INDIAN MARINE (INDIA)

TORPEDO SHIPS

ASSAYE torpedo gunboats (1892)

Assaye 1900

Name No Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comp Fate
Assaye     Armstrong, Elswick, UK 19.11.1888 11.2.1890 2.1892 sold 5.1904
Plassey     Armstrong, Elswick, UK 19.11.1888 5.7.1890 2.1892 sold 5.1904

 

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 1 - 356 TT (6 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 on either side amidships. The resemblance to contemporary small cruisers was marked. Ships 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 (1-102mm, 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