Medina-class gunboat
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| Class overview | |
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| Name: | Medina-class iron screw gunboat |
| Builders: | Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy
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| Preceded by: | Ant-class gunboat |
| Succeeded by: | Bouncer-class gunboat |
| Built: | 1876 - 1877 |
| In commission: | 1877 - 1923 |
| Completed: | 12 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 110 ft 0 in (33.5 m) |
| Beam: | 34 ft 1 in (10.4 m) |
| Draught: | 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 5 ft 6 in (1.7 m) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: |
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| Sail plan: |
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| Speed: | 9 1⁄2 kn (17.6 km/h) |
| Complement: | 51 |
| Armament: |
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The Medina-class gunboat was a class of 12 Royal Navy Rendel (or "flat-iron") gunboats mounting three 6.3-inch guns, built between 1876 and 1877. Flat-iron gunboats were normally built without masts or rigging, but the Medinas carried a full barquentine rig. Their robust iron hulls meant that they lingered on as diving tenders, barges and lighters, with five of them working into the 1920s. The hull of Medway lies in shallow water in Bermuda and is visible on satellite imagery.
The Medina class were a development of the Rendel (or "flat-iron") gunboat, a series of small vessels with low freeboards which mounted a small number of relatively large guns. Although the Medinas were exceptionally provided with masts to extend their range and independence, in essence they were available for similar operations to their un-masted sisters; offensive action against shore defences. Their ungainly appearance led them to be described by the naval historian Antony Preston as "the most grotesque craft ever seen". All 12 vessels of the class were built at Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company in Jarrow and were named after rivers. They were constructed entirely of iron and were fitted with an unusual bow rudder.
As built, ships of the class mounted three 6.3-inch (160-mm) 64-pdr 64-cwt muzzle-loading rifles. By 1892 Trent had been fitted with a pair of 4.7-inch quick-firing guns.
All the ships of the class were fitted with a pair of R and W Hawthorn 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engines of 60 nominal horsepower. They developed 310 indicated horsepower (230 kW), giving a speed of about 9 1⁄2 kn (17.6 km/h).
All ships of the class were built with three masts and a barquentine rig of sails. Surviving members of the class had their sailing rig replaced by a pair of pole masts in the 1890s.
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