HMS Volage (1869)
Circa 1892 photograph of HMS Volage, lead ship of the class
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Volage |
| Builder: | Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Blackwall, London |
| Cost: | £126,156 |
| Laid down: | September 1867 |
| Launched: | 27 February 1869 |
| Commissioned: | March 1870 |
| Decommissioned: | 1899 |
| Nickname(s): | Vollidge |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 17 May 1904 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type: | Volage-class iron screw corvette |
| Tonnage: | 2,322 bm |
| Displacement: | 3,078 long tons (3,127 t) |
| Length: | 270 ft (82.3 m) (p/p) |
| Beam: | 42 ft 1 in (12.83 m) |
| Draught: | 21 ft 5 in (6.5 m) |
| Installed power: | 4,130 ihp (3,080 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Sail plan: | Ship rig |
| Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Range: | 2,000 nmi (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 340 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Volage was a Volage-class corvette built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. She spent most of her first commission assigned to the Flying Squadron circumnavigating the world and later carried a party of astronomers to the Kerguelen Islands to observe the transit of Venus in 1874. The ship was then assigned as the senior officer's ship in South American waters until she was transferred to the Training Squadron during the 1880s. Volage was paid off in 1899 and sold for scrap in 1904.
Volage was 270 feet (82.3 m) long between perpendiculars and had a beam of 42 feet 1 inch (12.8 m). Forward the ship had a draught of 16 feet 5 inches (5.0 m), but aft she drew 21 ft 5 in (6.5 m). Volage displaced 3,078 long tons (3,127 t) and had a burthen of 2,322 tons. Her iron hull was covered by a 3-inch (76 mm) layer of oak that was sheathed with copper from the waterline down to prevent biofouling. Watertight transverse bulkheads subdivided the hull. Her crew consisted of 340 officers and enlisted men. The ship was nicknamed Vollidge by her crew.
The ship had one 2-cylinder trunk engine made by John Penn & Sons driving a single 19-foot (5.8 m) propeller. Five rectangular boilers provided steam to the engine at a working pressure of 30 psi (207 kPa; 2 kgf/cm2). The engine produced a total of 4,530 indicated horsepower (3,380 kW) which gave Volage a maximum speed of 15.3 knots (28.3 km/h; 17.6 mph). The ship carried 420 long tons (430 t) of coal, enough to steam 1,850 nautical miles (3,430 km; 2,130 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Volage was ship rigged and had a sail area of 16,593 square feet (1,542 m2). The lower masts were made of iron, but the other masts were wood. The ship's best speed under sail alone was 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph). Her funnel was semi-retractable to reduce wind resistance and her propeller could be hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag while under sail.
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Wikipedia