Fly-class gunboat

Class overview

Name:	Fly class
Builders:	Yarrow Shipbuilders
Operators:	Royal Navy (1915-1918) British Army (1918-1924)
In service:	1915-1924
Completed:	16
Lost:	3
Retired:	13
General characteristics
Type:	River gunboat^[1]
Displacement:	98 long tons (100 t)
Length:	126 ft (38 m)
Beam:	20 ft (6.1 m)
Draught:	2 ft (0.61 m)
Propulsion:	1 shaft VTE, single yarrow type mixed firing boiler, 175 ihp (130 kW)
Speed:	9.5 knots (10.9 mph; 17.6 km/h)
Complement:	22
Armament:	1 × 4-inch (102-mm) gun 1 × 12-pounder (76-mm) gun 1 × 6-pounder (57-mm) gun (some) 1 × 3-pounder (47-mm) gun 1 × 2-pounder (40-mm) pom-pom 4 or 5 machine guns

The Fly-class river gunboats (or small China gunboats^{[Note 1]}), collectively often referred to as the "Tigris gunboat flotilla", were a class of small but well-armed Royal Navy vessels designed specifically to patrol the Tigris river during the World War I Mesopotamian Campaign.

Design

They were fitted with one triple expansion steam engine driving one propeller housed in a tunnel to facilitate a very shallow 92 foot/60 cm) draught. The boats were designed to be dismantled and re-assembled

Deployment

The vessels were built by Yarrow Shipbuilders at Scotstoun, Glasgow in 1915 and 1916 and shipped out to Abadan in sections where they were assembled. They served with the Royal Navy patrolling the Tigris River until being transferred to the Army during 1918. They were sold off beginning 1923.

Firefly was captured by the Ottomans but recaptured at the Battle of Nahr-al-Kalek in February 1917.

The vessels

These vessels had the prefix "HM Gunboat"

Blackfly
Butterfly
Caddisfly
Cranefly
Dragonfly
Firefly
Gadfly
Grayfly
Greenfly
Hoverfly
Mayfly
Sawfly
Sedgefly
Snakefly
Stonefly
Waterfly

Notes

↑ the Insect-class gunboats were "large China gunboats".

References

↑ Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1922. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. p. 405. ISBN 0-87021-907-3. OCLC 12119866.

Jane's Fighting Ships 1919

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fly class gunboat.

British naval ship classes of the First World War

Aircraft/Seaplane carriers	Empress^S^V Riviera^S^V Engadine^S^V Ark Royal^S Ben-my-Chree^S^V Campania^S^V Raven II^S^V Anne^S^V Vindex^S^V Manxman^S^V Furious^M Pegasus^S^V Nairana^S^V Argus^S^V Vindictive^S^V

Dreadnought battleships	Dreadnought^S Bellerophon St Vincent Neptune^S Colossus Orion King George V Erin^S Agincourt^S Iron Duke Canada^S Queen Elizabeth Revenge

Pre-dreadnought battleships	Royal Sovereign Majestic Canopus Formidable Duncan King Edward VII Swiftsure Lord Nelson

Battlecruisers	Invincible Indefatigable Lion Queen Mary^S Tiger^S Renown Courageous Admiral^S^C Incomparable^X

Armoured cruisers	Cressy Drake Monmouth Devonshire Duke of Edinburgh Warrior Minotaur

Heavy cruisers	Hawkins

Light cruisers	Town^G Arethusa C^{G, C} Danae^C Emerald^A

Protected cruisers	Apollo Astraea Eclipse Blake Pearl Edgar Powerful Diadem Arrogant Pelorus Highflyer Challenger Topaze

Scout cruisers	Adventure Forward Pathfinder Sentinel Boadicea Blonde Active

Destroyer flotilla leaders	Swift^S Faulknor Marksman Parker Admiralty (or Scott)^C Thornycroft (or Shakespeare)^C

Destroyers	A^G B^G C^G D^G E^G F Cricket^G G H I K L Admiralty M Hawthorn M Thornycroft M Yarrow M Yarrow Later M R^G S^{G, C} Talisman V and W^{G, C}

Monitors	Marshal Ney Abercrombie Lord Clive Humber Gorgon M15 M29 Erebus

Minesweepers	Flower Racecourse Hunt 24^C

Gunboats	Fly Insect

Submarines	A B C D E F G H^C J K L^C M^C R^C Swordfish^S V

A All completed after the war C One or more completed after the war G Grouping of several classes M converted from Courageous class S Single ship of class V Conversions X Cancelled

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