 "Well Done Condor". Bombardment of Alexandria, 1882 by Charles Dixon
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Condor-class gunvessels |
| Builders | |
| Operators |  Royal Navy |
| Built | 1876–1877 |
| In commission | 1877–1923 |
| Completed | 4 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 774 tons |
| Length | 157 ft (48 m) |
| Beam | 29 ft 6 in (8.99 m) |
| Draught | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Installed power | Designed 750 ihp (560 kW) |
| Propulsion |
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| Sail plan | Barque-rigged |
| Speed | 11.5 kn (21.3 km/h) under power |
| Complement | 100 |
| Armament |
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The Condor-class gunvessel was a class of four Royal Navy composite gunvessels of 3 guns, built between 1876 and 1877. They were all hulked or sold before 1893, giving them an active life of less than 15 years.
Construction
Design
Designed by Nathaniel Barnaby, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction, the hull was of composite construction; that is, iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts with wooden planking.
Propulsion
They were fitted with three boilers, a 2-cylinder horizontal compound expansion steam engine and a single screw. Griffon and Falcon were engined by Laird Brothers and had a feathering propeller. Flamingo and Condor were engined by John Elder & Co, and all ships had a designed 750 indicated horsepower (560 kW), developing about 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h) under power.
Sail plan
The class was rigged with three masts, with square rig on the fore- and main-masts, making them barque-rigged vessels.
Armament
The ships of the class were fitted with a 7-in (4½-ton) muzzle-loading rifle and two 64-pounder (64cwt) muzzle-loading rifles, except for Flamingo, which had two 20-pounder breech-loaders in place of one of the 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifles. In 1884 Flamingo and Griffon were rearmed with two 5-in Vavasseur breech loaders replacing the 7-in muzzle-loading rifle.
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Ships
| Name | Ship Builder | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flamingo | Devonport Dockyard | 13 December 1876 | Hulk 1893. Sold to Plymouth Port Sanitary Authority on 25 May 1923. Sold on 4 May 1931 for breaking |
| Griffon | Laird Brothers, Birkenhead | 16 December 1876 | Sold to the Board of Trade as a hulk on 28 September 1891 and renamed Richmond |
| Condor | Devonport Dockyard | 28 December 1876 | Sold to George Cohen in August 1889 |
| Falcon | Laird Brothers, Birkenhead | 4 January 1877 | Hulk in 1890. Sold to E W Payne & Company on 25 June 1920 |
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) . Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- ^ Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.
- "Condor class gunvessels at battleships-cruisers website". Retrieved 9 February 2010.
External links
| Condor-class gunvessels | |
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