Curlew 1886
|
Name |
No |
Yard No |
Builder |
Laid down |
Launched |
Comp |
Fate |
| Curlew | Devonport DYd | 5.1.1885 | 23.10.1885 | 22.6.1886 | sold to BU 7.1906 | ||
| Landrail | Devonport DYd | 5.1.1885 | 19.1.1886 | 10.3.1887 | sunk as target 4.10.1906 |
|
Displacement normal, t |
950 |
|
Displacement full, t |
|
|
Length, m |
59.4 pp |
|
Breadth, m |
8.53 |
|
Draught, m |
3.20 |
|
No of shafts |
2 |
|
Machinery |
sails + 2 HC direct action, 4 cylindrical boilers |
|
Power, h. p. |
1500 |
|
Max speed, kts |
14.5 |
|
Fuel, t |
coal 250 |
|
Endurance, nm(kts) |
10000(10) |
|
Armament |
1 x 1 - 152/26 BL Mk IV/VI, 3 x 1 - 127/25 BL Mk I/II/III/IV/V, 7 x 1 - 11.4/94, 1 - 356 TT (bow, aw), 2 - 356 TC (through 4 ports) |
|
Complement |
46 |
Project history:
The Curlew class were what might be described as an attempt to modernise
the gunvessel but as the resultant type fulfilled no real need they were not
repeated and soon became obsolete. They were of similar size and general
arrangement to a standard composite gunvessel but were constructed of steel with
a finer, shallower hull and more powerful, forced draught machinery to provide a
higher speed, had no sailing rig and were given a torpedo as well as a gun
armament. Unfortunately they were too slow and too small to operate effectively
with the fleet and were too sophisticated to take up the duties of their
'old-fashioned' predecessors. They cost about 25% more to construct than a
standard gun vessel and the very fact that they had no sails and an unsheathed
steel hull made them an uneconomic proposition on distant stations.
They carried a single 152mm BLR, on the forecastle, and three
127mm BLR, one on the poop and two in the waist on the upper deck. A fixed
torpedo tube was mounted at the extreme forward end of the upper deck firing
through the stem while the two torpedo carriages, one under the forecastle and
one under the poop, were provided with alternate discharge ports to port and
starboard.
Modernizations: 1903, Curlew: mainmast was removed.
Naval service: No significant events.
Landrail
© Ivan Gogin, 2008-13