| Name | No | Yard No | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Comp | Fate |
| Amazon | Pembroke DYd | 1864 | 23.5.1865 | 1866 | collision 10.7.1866 | ||
| Vestal | Pembroke DYd | 1864 | 16.11.1865 | 1867 | sold 12.1884 | ||
| Niobe | Deptford DYd | 1864 | 31.5.1866 | 1871 | wrecked 21.5.1874 | ||
| Dryad | Devonport DYd | 4.1865 | 25.9.1866 | 1867 | sold 9.1885 | ||
| Daphne | Pembroke DYd | 1865 | 23.10.1866 | 1867 | sold 11.1882 | ||
| Nymphe | Deptford DYd | 1865 | 24.11.1866 | 1867 | sold 12.1884 |
|
Displacement normal, t |
Amazon: 1525 Vestal: 1597 Niobe: 1570 Dryad: 1574 Daphne: 1640 Nymphe: 1555 |
|
Displacement full, t |
|
|
Length, m |
57.0 pp |
|
Breadth, m |
11.0 |
|
Draught, m |
4.69 hold depth |
|
No of shafts |
1 |
|
Machinery |
Amazon, Niobe, Dryad, Daphne: sails + 4 boilers, 1 2-cyl HSE Vestal, Nymphe: sails + 4 boilers, 1 3-cyl HSE |
|
Power, h. p. |
Amazon: 1455 Vestal: 2154 Niobe: 1833 Dryad: 1464 Daphne: 1927 Nymphe: 2172 |
|
Max speed, kts |
Amazon, Niobe: 12.3 Vestal: 12.8 Dryad: 12 Daphne: 12.5 Nymphe: 13.1 |
|
Fuel, t |
coal 200 |
|
Endurance, nm(kts) |
|
|
Armament |
2 x 1 - 178/16 MLR Mk III, 2 x 1 - 160/16 64pdr 64cwt MLR |
|
Complement |
150 |
Project history: Designed by Sir Edward Reed,
this class was the first break through from the traditional sloop. The vessels
were the first to be constructed with a poop and a topgallant forecastle, and
the first to be fitted with Reed's design of ram bow, hither to only appearing
in armoured ships. They were also the heaviest of this rate ever officially
termed sloops in the navy. In design they were the smaller antecedents of the
ram-bowed Eclipse class corvettes (1867/70). In design, the Amazon
class had the same beam as the Eclipse corvettes, an identical form of
timber construction, with iron cross beams, and the same general internal
arrangements for berthing, bunkering and stores - on a length of 7.6m less than
even the smaller corvettes. A five to one ratio of length to beam was adopted as
an acceptable proportion for sloops. This class was characterized by the very
full beam towards both ends of the ship and their fine-lined extremities. With
timber in short supply, the dockyards were forced to use different kinds of
timber to build these ships. Amazon and Vestal were of teak, while
Niobe and Nymphe had frames in English oak, with teak cladding,
and Daphne had English oak frames and Italian oak planking. Dryad
was constructed half English and half Italian oak frames, with teak planking,
and Niobe and
Nymphe had decks made of fir.
The 178mm guns were slide-mounted, pivoted to the ship's
centreline to enable them to be traversed to fire from either side. The two
64pdrs were truck-mounted, one on each side.If stern fire were required, there
were ports under the poop to which one of the broadside guns could be moved.
They were far better steamships than their predecessors. Amazon,
Daphne and Niobe logged 12kts on trials. The class, rigged as barques,
marked the final change in rig, sloops hitherto being a mixture of barque- and
ship-rig. The ships had fixed screws of 4.5m diameter, and the best that they
could do under canvas was 11kts. They were the last class of all wooden-hulled
sloops to be built.
Modernizations: 1871, all: + 1 x 1 - 160/16 64pdr 64cwt MLR
early 1870s, Dryad, Nymphe, Vestal: were armed with 9 x 1 - 160/16 64pdr 64cwt MLR
Naval service: Amazon was sunk in a collision with collier Osprey in the English Channel on 10.7.1866. Niobe was wrecked off Cape Blanc (Miquelon Island) 21.5.1874.
Nymphe 1866
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