Conflict-class sloop

Desperate (centre) parting company with Phoenix (right) and the store ship Diligence (left) off Cape Farewell, 1852
Class overview
Name	Conflict class
Builders	Pembroke Dockyard
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	HMS Niger
Succeeded by	HMS Plumper
Built	1845—1849
In service	1849—1865
Completed	2
Cancelled	2
Scrapped	2
General characteristics [1]
Type	First-class sloop
Displacement	1,628 tons
Tons burthen	1,03869/94 bm
Length	192 ft 6+1⁄2 in (58.7 m) (gundeck) 172 ft 3+1⁄2 in (52.5 m) (keel for tonnage)
Beam	34 ft 4 in (10.5 m) maximum, 34 ft 4 in (10.5 m) for tonnage
Draught	15 ft 9 in (4.8 m) mean
Depth of hold	22 ft 8+1⁄2 in (6.9 m)
Installed power	400 nhp 699–772 ihp (521–576 kW)
Propulsion	4-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine Single screw
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	175
Armament	As built: 2 × 56-pounder (85cwt) solid shot guns</ref> 6 × 8-inch (65cwt) muzzle-loading shell guns 2 × 32-pounder (25cwt) solid shot guns 1857: 1 × 68-pounder (95cwt) smoothbore muzzle-loading gun 6 × 8-inch (65cwt) muzzle-loading shell guns 1 × 10-inch (85cwt) gun

This group of vessels were originally slated to be built to the Sampson designed steam vessel; however, the Admiralty on 9 May 1845, ordered the first pair (Conflict and Desperate) as First-Class screw sloops to be built from a design of Sir William Symonds, Surveyor of the Navy. This design would become known as the Conflict-class sloop. These would be 10-gun vessels with 400 NHP engines. The second pair of vessels (Enchantress and Falcon) were ordered on 26 March 1846 but after their keels were laid at Pembroke Dockyard, their construction was suspended in September 1846 then cancelled five years later, on 4 April 1851. Both completed ships served in the Baltic during the Crimean war, and Desperate briefly served as a store ship to Edward Augustus Inglefield's Arctic expedition. They had both been broken up by 1865.^[1]

Conflict was the fourth named vessel since its introduction for a 12-gun gun brig launched by Dudman at Deptford on 17 April 1801 and wrecked on the French Coast on 24 October 1804.^[2]

Desperate was the second named vessel since it was introduced for a 12-gun gun brig launched by White at Broadstairs on 2 January 1802, converted to a mortar brig in 1811 and sold on 15 December 1814.^[3]

Enchantress was the second named vessel since it was introduced for a 14-gun sloop purchased in 1804, reduced to Harbour service in June 1813 and listed until August 1818.^[4]

Falcon was the twenty-second named vessel since it was introduced for a Ballinger dating from 1342 and sold in 1352.^[5]