Forester-class gunboat

HMS Foxhound
Class overview
NameForester-class gunboats
Builders
  • William Doxford, Sunderland
  • Robert Napier & Sons, Govan
  • Earle’s Shipbuilding, Hull
  • Barrow Iron Shipbuilding
  • J & G Thomson, Govan
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byAriel class
Succeeded byBanterer class
CostHull £14,150, machinery £6,550 (Foxhound)[1]
Built1874–1877
In commissionc.1874–1931
Completed12
Lost0
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeComposite gunboat
Displacement
  • First 6 ships: 440 tons
  • Last 6 ships: 455 tons
Length125 ft 0 in (38.1 m) pp
Beam23 ft 6 in (7.2 m)
Draught8+1210+12 ft (2.6–3.2 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
  • 1 ×2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine[Note 1]
  • 2 × boilers
  • 1 × screw
Sail planThree-masted barquentine rig
Speed10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement60
Armament

The Forester-class gunboat was a class of 4-gun composite gunboats built for the Royal Navy between 1874 and 1877. Although half had been sold by 1890, the rest survived into the 20th century as coal hulks, base vessels and other secondary uses. Foxhound survived as a hulk on the Blackwall Reach of the Thames until 1975, when she was broken up. They were built of composite construction, that is, with iron keel, stem and stern posts, and iron framing, but planked with wood.

  1. ^ a b Winfield (2004), p.297
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference gunboat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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