Algerine class gunboat
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Leven rigged as a barquentine
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| Class overview | |
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| Name: | Algerine class gunboat |
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| Operators: |
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| Preceded by: | Albacore class |
| Succeeded by: | Britomart class |
| Cost: | Hull £5,668, machinery £4,350 (Jaseur) |
| Built: | 1856–1857 |
| In commission: | 1857–1873 |
| Completed: | 6 |
| Lost: | 3 |
| Retired: | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Wooden screw gunboat (gunvessels from 1859) |
| Displacement: | 370 tons |
| Tons burthen: | 300 88/94 bm |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 23 ft 0 in (7.0 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 9 ft 3 in (2.8 m) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: |
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| Sail plan: |
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| Speed: | 9 kn (17 km/h) |
| Armament: |
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The Algerine class gunboats were a class of six 3-gun wooden gunboats (reclassified as gunvessels from 1859) built for the Royal Navy in 1857. A further pair were built in India for the Bombay Marine in 1859.
An enlarged version of the very numerous Albacore class, they reflected the change in use from coastal operations towards deep-water cruising, but were delivered too late to see action in the Crimean War. They were the first class of Royal Navy gunboat to incorporate a hoisting screw, which gave them improved performance under sail. Of note, the last man hung from the yardarm in the Royal Navy was a Royal Marine executed on 13 July 1860 in Leven.
Developed during the Crimean War as an enlarged version of W. H. Walker's Albacore class, the Algerines were an acknowledgement that gunboats designed for coastal operations would inevitably be called upon to act in a cruising role, both in shallow and in deeper water. Their increased size gave them much improved accommodation, and in general they were effective vessels, leading to the construction of two identical vessels for the Indian Marine.
As built, they were armed with one 8-inch (200 mm) 68-pounder (87cwt) muzzle-loading smoothbore gun and two 24-pounder howitzers. By 1863 the three surviving vessels of the class were armed with one 110-pounder Armstrong breech-loading gun and one 40-pounder Armstrong breech-loading gun.
The class were each fitted with a 2-cylinder horizontal direct-acting single-expansion steam engine manufactured by Maudslay, Sons & Field. This engine drove a single screw, which for the first time in a gunboat was provided with a hoisting mechanism; this ensured a better performance under sail than previous classes. These engines were rated at 80 nominal horsepower and produced on trials 294 indicated horsepower (219 kW). The design speed under steam was 9 knots (17 km/h).
Fitted at first with a simple schooner rig (often known as a "gunboat rig" in the Royal Navy), the use of these vessels as cruisers encouraged commanding officers on far-flung stations to augment their sail area by fitting topmasts and yards, making them barquentines.
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