The ''Satellite'' class was a class of 12-gun composite sloops 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, and reclassified as

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

s in 1884.

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 ...

, 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. This class of composite sloops was unique in having an internal steel deck over the machinery and magazines for protection. The ''Satellite'' class were reclassified as corvettes in 1884, and no more composite or wooden corvettes were built - in fact, ''Pylades'' was the last corvette built for the Royal Navy until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Propulsion

Propulsion was provided by a horizontal compound expansion of driving a single screw.

Sail plan

All the ships of the class were built with 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 ...

rig.

Armament

The class was designed with two 6-inch/100-pounder (81cwt) breech loaders and ten 5-inch/50-pounder (38cwt) breech loaders, plus a single light gun and four (or more) machine guns. ''Heroine'', ''Hyacinth'' and ''Royalist'' were built with eight 6-inch/100-pounder (81cwt) breech loaders in place of the 5-inch/6-inch mixture, and ''Satellite'' was converted to the same fit.

Ships

Operational lives

These ships were designed to patrol the far-flung reaches of Britain's maritime

empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

, and so ''Rapid'' and ''Royalist'' both went to the Australian Station, ''Satellite'' to 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 ...

, ''Pylades'' to the

North America and West Indies Station The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956, with main bases at the Imperial fortresses of Bermuda and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The ...

and ''Heroine'', ''Caroline'' and ''Hyacinth'' all to the

China Station The Commander-in-Chief, China, was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 1 ...

References

* {{Satellite class sloop Sloop classes Satellite