HMS ''Reindeer'' was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

''Mariner''-class composite screw gunvessel of 8 guns.

Construction

Nathaniel Barnaby Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, (25 February 1829 – 16 June 1915) was Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1872 to 1885. Biography Born on 25 February 1829 in Chatham, Barnaby began his career as a naval apprentice at Sheerness in 1843. He wo ...

, the Royal Navy

Director of Naval Construction The Director of Naval Construction (DNC) also known as the Department of the Director of Naval Construction and Directorate of Naval Construction and originally known as the Chief Constructor of the Navy was a senior principal civil officer res ...

, her hull was of composite construction; that is, iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts with wooden planking. She was fitted with a 2-cylinder horizontal compound expansion steam engine driving a single screw, produced by Hawthorn Leslie. She was rigged with three masts, with square rig on the fore- and main-masts, making her a

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...

-rigged vessel. Her keel was laid at

Devonport Royal Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Roya ...

on 15 January 1883 and she was launched on 14 November 1883. Her entire class were re-classified in November 1884 as sloops before they entered service.

Career

She was converted to a

boom defence vessel 300px, , an American net laying ship that worked at Pearl Harbor in the 1940s A net laying ship, also known as a net layer, net tender, gate ship or boom defence vessel was a type of naval auxiliary ship. A net layer's primary function was to l ...

in 1904. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, she collided with the Royal Navy stores carrier in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

on 6 June 1915, sinking ''Immingham''. She was lent to the Liverpool Salvage Association as a salvage vessel in 1917. Re-engined in 1918 by

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, was a Scottish shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Na ...

with a engine, she was renamed ''Reindeer I'' and sold to the Halifax Shipyard Ltd as a salvage ship on 12 July 1924. She was abandoned at sea on 12 March 1932. Her 30 crew were rescued by the ocean liner .

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reindeer (1883) Mariner-class gunvessels Ships built in Plymouth, Devon 1883 ships Victorian-era gunboats of the United Kingdom World War I sloops of the United Kingdom Auxiliary gateship classes Maritime incidents in 1915 Maritime incidents in 1932