HMS Niger (1846)

HMS Niger
HMS Niger at Vera Crux (Illustrated London News)
History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Niger
Ordered20 February 1845
BuilderWoolwich Dockyard
Laid downMay 1845
Launched18 November 1846
Honours and
awards
Crimea/Black Sea 1854 - 55, China 56 - 58, New Zealand 1860[1]
FateSold to Castle in 1869 for breaking
General characteristics
Class and typeNiger-class
Typewooden screw sloop (later "corvette")
Displacement
  • 1,072 6/94 bm
  • 1,454 long tons (1,477 t)[2]
Length
  • 194 ft 4 in (59.23 m) gundeck
  • 170 ft 11.75 in (52.1145 m) keel reported for tonage[2]
Beam34 ft 8 in (10.57 m) maximum, 34 ft 4 in (10.46 m) beam reported for tonnage[2]
Draught15 ft 6 in (4.72 m)[2]
Depth of hold21 ft 5.5 in (6.541 m)[2]
Installed power1002 indicated horsepower
Propulsion
  • 4-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine
  • Single 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) screw[2]
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Speed10.25 kn (18.98 km/h) under power[2]
Complement160
Armament
  • As built:
  • 2 × 56-pdr (87cwt) guns
  • 4 × 8-inch/68-pdr (65cwt) guns
  • 2 × 32-pdr (17cwt) guns
  • From 1850:
  • 14 × 32-pdr (17cwt) guns
  • From 1856:
  • 14 × 32-pdr (17cwt) guns
  • 1 × 68-pdr gun[2]

HMS Niger was originally slated to be built as a Sampson designed sloop; however, she was ordered as a First-Class sloop with screw propulsion on 20 February 1845 to be built at Woolwich Dockyard, along the design developed by Oliver Lang and with a hull like the Basilisk designed paddle sloops. Her armament and engine were to be like the Encounter Design building at Pembroke. A second vessel (Florentia) was ordered on 26 March 1846 but after her keel was laid at Pembroke Dockyard, her construction was suspended on 6 October 1846 then cancelled three years later, on 22 May 1849. Niger She conducted important propulsion trials, finally proving the superiority of screw propulsion and served in West Africa, the Crimea, China, the East Indies and Australia. She took part in the New Zealand wars in 1860 and was sold for breaking in 1869.[3]

Niger was the third named vessel since its introduction for a 33-gun fifth rate launched at Sheerness on 25 September 1759, converted to a prison ship in 1810, renamed Negro in 1813 and sold on 29 September 1814.[4]

Florentia introduced this name to the Royal Navy.[4]

  1. ^ Rif Winfield, Battles and Campaigns
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Winfield, p.212
  3. ^ Rif Winfield, Chapter 12
  4. ^ a b Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.