Beagle-class sloop

The Beagle class was a two-ship class of 8-gun screw steel sloops [4] built for the Royal Navy in 1889.

A photograph of Nymphe, visually identical to the Beagle class
Class overview
Name:	Beagle-class sloop
Operators:	Royal Navy
Built:	1889
In commission:	1889–1920
Completed:	2
Lost:	0
General characteristics
Type:	Screw steel sloop
Displacement:	1170 tons[1]
Length:	195 ft (59 m) pp[2]
Beam:	30 ft (9.1 m)[3]
Draught:	13 ft (4.0 m)[3]
Installed power:	2,000 ihp (1,500 kW)[2]
Propulsion:	3-cylinder horizontal triple-expansion steam engine 2 screws
Sail plan:	Barquentine rig
Speed:	14.5 kn (26.9 km/h)[2]
Endurance:	3,000 nmi (5,600 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)[2]
Complement:	138[2]
Armament:	As built: 8 × BL 5-inch (127.0 mm) 50-pounder guns After 1900: 8 × quick firing 4.7-inch guns
Armour:	Protective deck of 1 to 1 ^1⁄2 in (2.5 to 3.8 cm) steel over the machinery and boilers[2]

Design

Beagle and Basilisk were constructed of copper-sheathed steel to a design by William White, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction. They were powered by a twin-screw three-cylinder horizontal triple-expansion steam engine developing 2,000 indicated horsepower (1,500 kW) and carried a barquentine sail rig.[2] They were essentially the same design as the preceding Nymphe class, but built of steel rather than of composite wood-and-steel.[2]

Operational use

In common with other designs of Royal Navy sloop of the period, the Beagle class were not intended or designed to fight a modern fleet action; they were intended to patrol Britain's extensive maritime empire, and this is how they were employed. Beagle conducted three foreign commissions between 1890 and 1900, at least two of which were on the South Atlantic Station.[1] She was refitted in 1900, during which her 5-inch (130 mm) breech-loading guns were replaced with quick-firing guns. Basilisk also spent all or part of her career on the South Atlantic Station.[5]

Ships

Name	Ship Builder	Launched	Fate
Beagle	Portsmouth Dockyard	28 February 1889	Sold for breaking on 11 July 1905[1][2][4]
Basilisk	Sheerness Dockyard	6 April 1889	Became coal hulk C7 and sold as Maggie Grech in 1905[2][4][5]

References

1. "HMS Beagle at Naval Database website". Retrieved 31 August 2008.
2. Winfield (2004) p.277
3. "HMS Basilisk at Battleships-Cruisers website". Retrieved 31 August 2008.
4. "Naval Sloops at battleships-cruisers.co.uk". Retrieved 30 August 2008.
5. "HMS Basilisk at Naval Database website". Archived from the original on 30 August 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2008.

• 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.
• Preston, Antony; Major, John (2007). Send a Gunboat: The Victorian Navy and Supremacy at Sea, 1854–1904 (2nd ed.). London: Conway. ISBN 978-0-85177-923-2.