HMS Rattler (1843)
HMS Rattler was a 9-gun steam screw sloop of the Royal Navy, and one of the first British warships to be completed with screw propulsion. She was originally ordered as a paddle wheel 4-gun steam vessel from Sheerness Dockyard on 12 March 1841. She was reordered on 24 February 1842 as a propeller type 9-gun sloop from HM Royal Dockyard, Sheerness, as a new vessel. William Symonds had redesigned the ship as a screw propeller driven vessel.
She was the fifth ship so named since the name was first introduced into the Royal Navy for a 16-gun sloop launched by Wilson of Sandgate on 22 March 1783 and sold on 6 September 1792.
Construction
The keel of Rattler was laid in April 1842 and launched on 13 April 1843 at Sheerness Dockyard. The length of her gundeck was with a keel length of with an overall length of. Her maximum breadth was with reported for tonnage. Her Depth of hold was. She had a mean draught of. Her builder's measure for tonnage was 888 and she displaced 1,112 tons.After launching, she was towed to East India Dock at Maudslay's yard to have her machinery installed. She was equipped with two fire tube rectangular boilers. Her engine was a Maudslay, Son & Field four-cylinder vertical single-expansion steam engine with double cylinders of with a working stroke of, rated at 200 nhp. Once her machinery was installed she was moved to Woolwich Dockyard where she was coppered.
Her armament consisted of either a single 8-inch muzzle loading smooth bore 8-foot 10-inch shell gun or a single 68-pounder MLSB 10-foot solid shot gun on a pivot mount and eight Blomefeld 32-pounder MLSB solid shot guns on broadside trucks.
Trials
Her propeller trials commenced on 30 October 1843. During her full power steam trials her engine generated for a speed of.Rattler was completed for sea on 30 January 1845 at a first cost of machinery - £9,400 and fitting of £17,413.
Service history
Her first commission was on 12 December 1844 at Woolwich under Commander Henry Smith, RN. She was assigned to Portsmouth. On 3 April 1845 the Admiralty held a demonstration on the power of the screw propeller over the paddle wheel. Rattler was pitted against her near sister. Both vessels had the same basic hull form, though Rattler was just over 12 feet longer. Both had 200 NHP engines installed. The sea was perfectly calm. Rattler had a three mast rig whereas Alecto only had two masts. With the engines of both vessels working Rattler developed whereas Alecto only reached. The result had Rattler towing Alecto astern at. The results were only to demonstrate to skeptics the soundness of the Admiralty's decision to use the propeller over the paddle wheel. This demonstration would be repeated two more times by 1849. It is this which is commemorated to this day in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. A large number of propellers were also tested on Rattler during this period to find the most effective screw design.On 17 May 1845 Rattler and steamers HMS Monkey and HMS Blazer towed and toward Orkney but abandoned the tow north-west of Stromness. Rattler returned to Woolwich on 10 June. In June 1845 Rattler served with the 1845 Experimental Squadron. On 29 August 1846, while serving with the Squadron of Evolution, she ran aground at Lisbon, Portugal; she was refloated. She departed the Squadron in November 1846 for Gibraltar, from which she towed. On 17 November 1846 her new commander was Commander Richard Moorman, RN and transferred to the South American Station. On 13 September 1847 she was paid off at Woolwich.