Beacon class gunvessel
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Beacon class |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy
|
| Preceded by: | Plover class |
| Succeeded by: | Frolic class |
| Built: | 1867–1868 |
| Completed: | 18 |
| Lost: | 1 |
| Scrapped: | 17 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Type: | Composite screw gunvessel |
| Displacement: | 603 long tons (613 t) |
| Tons burthen: | 464 bm |
| Length: | 155 ft (47.2 m) (p/p) |
| Beam: | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Draught: | 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m) (maximum) |
| Depth: | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Installed power: | 472–641 ihp (352–478 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Sail plan: | Barque rig |
| Speed: | 9–10 knots (17–19 km/h; 10–12 mph) |
| Complement: | 80 |
| Armament: |
|
The Beacon-class gunvessels were a class of composite gunboats built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. They were the first warships of the Royal Navy expressly designed to use the engines of an older class of ships with a different hull shape. They were generally deployed overseas to the China, East Indies, West Africa, Pacific, North America and West Indies Stations. In addition to , the ships fought pirates and suppressed the slave trade in East and West Africa. As their engines wore out in the mid-1880s, they were mostly retired and scrapped by the end of the decade. A few survived into the early 1900s as they were modified for harbour service before being sold or scrapped.
These ships were designed by Sir Edward Reed, the Director of Naval Construction, as replacements for the various gunvessels built for the Crimean War. Being built of green timber, their hulls were starting to rot after a decade or more in service, but their engines were still generally sound. As the older ships were broken up their engines were salvaged and transferred to Beacon-class ships under construction. Combat experience against Chinese fortifications had shown that the single 32-pounder smoothbore armament of the earlier ships was not powerful enough so Reed was directed to prepare a twin-screw, shallow draft design suitable for riverine operations that incorporated a pair of steam engines from the older gunboats, a heavy armament, and enough freeboard to allow for service at sea. These rather contradictory requirements forced Reed to discard traditional wooden framing for these ships and the Beacon class became the first ships of the Royal Navy to be framed in iron with wooden planking.
The ships were 155 feet (47.2 m) long between perpendiculars and had a beam of 25 feet (7.6 m). Forward, the ships had a draught of 7 feet 9 inches (2.4 m), but aft they drew 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m). They displaced 603 long tons (613 t) as built and had a burthen of 464 tons. The depth of hold was 11 feet (3.4 m) and the hull was subdivided by watertight bulkheads. Their crew consisted of 80 officers and enlisted men.
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