Britomart-class gunboat


The Britomart-class gunboat was a class of sixteen gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1859–1867.

Design

The Britomart class was an improved version of the designed by W.H. Walker, and as such comes under the generic group "Crimean gunboats" although this class was ordered and built long after the end of the Crimean War. These were the last Royal Navy gunboats to have wooden hulls: subsequent gunboats were of composite construction, with wooden planking over iron frames.

Propulsion

The class were fitted with a single-cylinder single-expansion reciprocating steam engine. The single screw could be hoisted to give improved performance under sail.

Sail plan

The ships were provided with a three-masted barquentine rig, that is, with square sails on the foremast and fore-and-aft sails on the main and mizzen masts.

Armament

Early ships of the class were armed with two 68-pounder smooth bore muzzle loading cannon ; but the Heron was fitted with two 112-pounder Armstrong guns. Later ships had two 64-pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns.