HMS Eclipse (1860)
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HMS Cormorant, name ship of the class
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| History | |
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| Name: | HMS Eclipse |
| Ordered: | 14 June 1859 |
| Builder: |
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| Laid down: | 8 August 1859 |
| Launched: | 18 September 1860 |
| Decommissioned: | 1867 |
| Fate: | Broken up at Sheerness in July 1867 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Cormorant-class first-class gunvessel |
| Displacement: | 877 tons |
| Tons burthen: | 694 66/94 bm |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 28 ft 4 in (8.6 m) |
| Draught: | 11–12 ft (3.4–3.7 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 14 ft 0 in (4.3 m) |
| Installed power: | |
| Propulsion: |
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| Sail plan: | Barque |
| Speed: | 11 knots (20 km/h) (under steam) |
| Complement: | 90 |
| Armament: | |
HMS Eclipse was a 4-gun Cormorant-class first class gunvessel launched in 1860 from the shipyard of J. Scott Russell & Co., Millwall. She served on the Australia Station, took part in the Second Taranaki War, including contributing men to a naval brigade which attacked the Maori stronghold at Gate Pā. The entire class were never satisfactory as gunvessels, partly due to their excessive draught, and Eclipse was broken up at Sheerness in 1867, only 7 years after her launch.
The first 6 ships, including Eclipse, had a 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine provided by Robert Napier and Sons and rated at 200 nominal horsepower, driving a single screw.
The main armament, which was principally intended for shore bombardment, was originally designed with two 68-pounder and two 32-pounder muzzle-loading smoothbore guns. They were finished, however, with a single 7-inch/110-pounder Armstrong breech-loading gun and a 68-pounder muzzle-loading smoothbore gun. A pair of broadside 20-pounder Armstrong breech-loading guns were also fitted. The 68-pounders were later replaced by a pair of 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns.
In common with all other Royal Navy wooden screw gunvessels, the Cormorants were rigged as barques, that is with three masts, with the fore and main masts square rigged, and the mizzen fore-and-aft rigged.
The first 6 ships were ordered on 14 June 1859 from commercial yards, with Eclipse built by J Scott Russell at Millwall. The first completed ships had a draught of 11–12 feet (3.4–3.7 m), exceeding the intended 8 feet (2.4 m) by a considerable margin. Since gunvessels were intended to work in shallow water while bombarding the shore, work on the later two batches was suspended, with 3 of the 7 suspended ships later completed as survey vessels and the rest cancelled.Eclipse was launched on 18 September 1860.
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Wikipedia