HMS ''Cormorant'' was an sloop launched at Chatham on 12 September 1877 and later the receiving ship at Gibraltar. She was renamed ''Rooke'' in 1946 and broken up in 1949.

Design

The ''Osprey'' class were of composite construction, with wooden hulls over an iron frame. They were designed by the Chief Constructor, William Henry White and five were ordered. Of 1,130 tons displacement and approximately , they were capable of approximately and were armed with two 7-inch muzzle-loading rifled guns on pivoting mounts, and four 64-pounder guns (two on pivoting mounts, and two broadside). They had a crew complement of approximately 140 men.

Construction

''Cormorant'' was laid down at Chatham Royal Dockyard in 1875 and launched on 12 September 1877. She was commissioned on 2 July 1878.

Operational history

The primary purpose of ships of the class was to maintain

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naval dominance through trade protection, anti-slavery, and surveying. On 21 May 1871, ''Cormorant'' ran into a vessel in the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

and was severely damaged. In 1879 she served on the

Australia Station The Australia Station was the British, and later Australian, naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent. Australia Station was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station, whose rank varied over t ...

, and in April 1886 she was on the

Pacific Station The Pacific Station was created in 1837 as one of the geographical military formations into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities. The South America Station was split into the Pacific Station and the South East Coast o ...

. On 20 July 1887 she became the first vessel to use the newly built

graving dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

at the Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard.

Fate

''Cormorant'' became a

receiving ship A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. 'Hulk' may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or a ship whose propulsion system is no longer maintained or has been r ...

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

in 1889. Lieutenant Arthur Hope Fanshawe was appointed in command of the ''Cormorant'' and torpedo boats at Gibraltar on 7 March 1900. Lieutenant Claude Lionel Cumberlege was appointed in command during 1902. She became a flag ship when Rear-Admiral Sir William Acland hoisted his flag on board the ''Cormorant'' when he was appointed Admiral Superintendent of the Gibraltar dockyard in October 1902. She was renamed HMS ''Rooke'' in 1946 and was scrapped in 1949, being broken up at

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References

Bibliography

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External links

Osprey-class sloops Ships built in Chatham 1877 ships Victorian-era sloops of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in May 1878 {{UK-mil-ship-stub