The ''Mariner'' class was a class of six 8-gun

gunvessel A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

s ( sloops from 1884) built for the

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 ...

between 1883 and 1888. Four were built in the Naval Dockard at Devonport, and two elsewhere; the ''Acorn'' was built by contract at Jacobs Pill on the Pembroke River (a private yard founded in the 1870s by Sir Edward Reed), while the ''Melita'' was built in the

Malta Dockyard Malta Dockyard was an important naval base in the Grand Harbour in Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. The infrastructure which is still in operation is now operated by Palumbo Shipyards. History Pre-1800 The Knights of Malta established dockyard ...

, the only substantial ship of the Royal Navy ever to be built in the island.

Construction

Design

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 ...

,Winfield (2004), p.296 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 ...

, the hull was of composite construction; that is, iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts with wooden planking. The entire class were re-classified in November 1884 as sloops before they entered service.

Propulsion

Propulsion was provided by a 2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine of driving a single screw. This arrangement provided enough power to drive the ships at , although ''Icarus'' and ''Melita'' recorded 12.5 knots.

Sail plan

All the ships of the class were built as

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 vessels, except ''Icarus'', which had no main yards provided, making her a

barquentine A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts. Modern barquentine sailing ...

Armament

The class was designed and built to carry eight 5-inch 38cwt breech-loading guns,"5-inch" refers to the

calibre In guns, particularly firearms, but not artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or wher ...

of the gun; 38cwt is the weight of the gun in

hundredweight The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and United States customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the United States customary and British imperial sy ...

. one light gun and eight machine guns. ''Melita'' had 40cwt guns instead of 38cwt, and ''Reindeer'' had two of her guns removed.

Construction

All the ships were laid down in 1882-83. While most of the ships were completed relatively quickly, ''Melita'' took six years to build. The intention behind building her at Malta was to make use of the substantial workforce at

who were otherwise (it was felt) unemployed when the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between ...

was away. The experiment cost £10,000 more than the British-built versions, and incurred substantial delay; it was not repeated, and ''Melita'' remained the only warship of any significant size ever built in Malta for the Royal Navy.Preston (2007), p.178.

Construction

Design

Propulsion

Sail plan

Armament

Construction

Ships

See also

Notes

Citations

References