&sq=&lang=&file=File:The_%27Recruit%27_steam_gun-boat_-_ILN_1855.jpg) Recruit in action at Taganrog on 3 June 1855, Illustrated London News. by Edwin Weedon
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| History | |
|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:War_Ensign_of_Prussia_(1816).svg){kind=small} Prussia | |
| Name | Salamander |
| Namesake | Salamander |
| Builder | Robinson & Russell |
| Laid down | 1850 |
| Launched | 1850 |
| Commissioned | 1 July 1851 |
| Fate | Sold to Britain, 12 January 1855 |
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Recruit |
| Acquired | 12 January 1855 |
| Fate | Sold in January 1870 |
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Recruit |
| Owner |
|
| Acquired | January 1870 |
| Identification | Official Number 63244 |
| Fate | by 1878 a powder magazine |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Nix-class aviso |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 53.85 m (176 ft 8 in) o/a |
| Beam |
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| Draft | 2 m (6 ft 7 in) |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
| Range | 2,500 nmi (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament | 4 × 25-pound mortars |
SMS Salamander was the second and final member of the Nix class of avisos that were built for the Prussian Navy in the early 1850s. The ship saw little active use, apart from limited training exercises. In 1855, the ship was sold to the British Royal Navy in part exchange for the sail frigate Thetis and was commissioned as HMS Recruit. After entering service, she saw action in the Black Sea during the Crimean War, where she took part in operations against Russian logistics. The Royal Navy thereafter did not put the vessel to much use either, as she remained idle in Valletta, Malta, until late 1861, with the only events of note taking place in 1857 when she helped recover a gunboat and two merchant ships that had run aground in the region. Recruit was recalled to Britain in late 1861, thereafter remaining in reserve until 1869. In the 1870s she became a merchant ship, and was then used as a gunpowder magazine at Cape Town.