Mariner class gunvessel

HMS Racer
Class overview
Name:	Mariner-class gunvessels (later reclassified sloops)
Builders:	Devonport Dockyard Malta Dockyard Milford Haven Shipbuilding Co
Operators:	Royal Navy
Cost:	Hull: £34,834 Machinery: £12,787 (Reindeer)
Built:	1883–1888
In commission:	1883–1929
Completed:	6
General characteristics
Displacement:	970 tons
Length:	167 ft (51 m)
Beam:	32 ft (9.8 m)
Draught:	14 ft (4.3 m)
Installed power:	850 hp (634 kW)
Propulsion:	2-cylinder horizontal compound expansion steam engine Single screw
Sail plan:	Barque-rigged, except Icarus (Barquentine-rigged)
Range:	Approximately 2,100 nmi (3,900 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement:	126
Armament:	8 x BL 5-inch (127.0 mm) 38 cwt guns 1 light gun 8 Machine guns

The Mariner class was a class of 8-gun gunvessels (later reclassified as sloops) built for the Royal Navy between 1883 and 1888.

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. 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 850 hp (634 kW) driving a single screw.

Sail Plan

All the ships of the class were built as barque-rigged vessels, except Icarus, which had no main yards provided, making her a barquentine.

Armament

The class was designed and built to carry eight 5in 38cwt Breech Loading guns, one light gun and eight machine guns. Melita had 40cwt guns instead of 38cwt, and Icarus had two of her guns removed.

Ships

Name	Ship Builder	Launched	Fate
HMS Mariner	Devonport Dockyard	23 June 1884	Boom defence in 1903. Lent to Liverpool Salvage Association as a salvage vessel in 1917. Laid up from 1922 to 1929. Sold to Hughes Bolckow, Blyth on 19 February 1929
HMS Reindeer	Devonport Dockyard	14 November 1883	Boom defence in 1904. Lent to Liverpool Salvage Association as a salvage vessel in 1917, renamed Reindeer I. Sold to Halifax Shipyard Ltd as a salvage ship on 12 July 1924. Abandoned at sea in March 1932
HMS Racer	Devonport Dockyard	6 August 1884	Tender to Britannia at Dartmouth in 1896; tender to Osborne College, Cowes in February 1903. Salvage vessel in June 1917. Sold to Hughes Bolckow, Blyth on 6 November 1928
HMS Icarus	Devonport Dockyard	27 July 1885	Sold on 12 April 1904
HMS Acorn	Milford Haven Shipbuilding Co	6 September 1884	Sold to Harris, Bristol on 15 December 1899. Broken up at Milford Haven in 1904
HMS Melita	Malta Dockyard	20 March 1888	Boom defence in May 1905. Salvage vessel in December 1915, renamed Ringdove. Sold to Falmouth Docks Board on 9 July 1920, renamed Ringdove’s Aid. Sold again in 1927 to Liverpool and Glasgow Salvage Association, renamed Restorer, and finally broken up in 1937

See also

• Media related to Mariner class gunvessel at Wikimedia Commons

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.