HMS Melita (1888)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Melita.

Watercolour, 1896, by Gaetano Esposito
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Melita
NamesakeMalta (Latin)
BuilderMalta Dockyard
Cost£60,179[1]
Laid down18 July 1883[1]
Launched20 March 1888
Commissioned27 October 1892[2]
RenamedRingdove in December 1915
Reclassifiedsalvage vessel 1915
FateSold on 9 July 1920 to the Falmouth Docks Company
Merchant Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
Name
  • 1920: Ringdove’s Aid
  • 1927: Restorer
Operator
IdentificationOfficial Number: 137212 (from 1921)[3]
FateBroken up in the second quarter of 1937
General characteristics
Class and typeMariner-class composite screw sloop
Tonnage554 GRT, 214 NRT (from 1921)[3]
Displacement970 tons
Length167 ft (51 m)
Beam32 ft (9.8 m)
Draught14 ft (4.3 m)[1]
Installed power850 ihp (630 kW)
Propulsion
  • 2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine
  • Single screw[1]
Sail planBarque-rigged
Speed11+1⁄2 knots (21.3 km/h)
RangeApproximately 2,100 nmi (3,900 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)[1]
Complement126
Armament

HMS Melita was a Royal Navy Mariner-class composite screw sloop of 8 guns, launched in 1888 and commissioned in 1892. She was the only significant Royal Navy warship ever to be built in Malta Dockyard,[Note 2] She was renamed HMS Ringdove in 1915 as a salvage vessel and in 1920 was sold to the Falmouth Docks Company, which changed her name to Ringdove's Aid. She was sold again in 1926 to the Liverpool & Glasgow Salvage Association, renamed Restorer, and finally broken up in 1937, 54 years after her keel was laid.

  1. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference RW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference MH was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference MNL1923 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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