Ant-class gunboat

A model of HMS Arrow
Class overview
NameAnt class
Builders
  • Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Robert Napier & Sons
  • Chatham Dockyard
  • Charles Mitchell & Co
  • J & G Rennie, Greenwich
  • Campbell Johnston, North Woolwich
  • Laird Brothers, Birkenhead
  • Pembroke Dockyard
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byHMS Plucky
Succeeded byMedina class
SubclassesGadfly class
Built1870 - 1879
In commission1870 - 1959
Completed24
General characteristics
TypeFlat-iron gunboat
Displacement254 tons standard
Length85 ft (26 m)
Beam26 ft 1.5 in (7.963 m)
Draught6 ft (1.8 m)
Installed power260 ihp (190 kW)[1]
Propulsion
  • Two 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engines
  • Two screws[1]
Speed8.5 kn (15.7 km/h)[1]
Crew30[1]
ArmamentOne 10-inch (18 ton) muzzle-loading rifle[1]

The Ant-class gunboat was a class of twenty-four Royal Navy flat-iron gunboats mounting a single 10-inch gun, built between 1870 and 1880.[1] They carried no masts or sails, being among the first Royal Navy vessels not to do so. The last four vessels were ordered separately and are sometimes known as the Gadfly class, although they were essentially identical. Members of the class lingered on as steam lighters, dredgers, boom defence vessels and base ships, lasting in some cases into the 1950s.

  1. ^ a b c d e f Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.