HMS Espiegle (1880)
.jpg) Espiegle moored to a buoy | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Espiegle |
| Builder: | Devonport Dockyard |
| Cost: | Hull £37,500, machinery £11,770[1] |
| Laid down: | 23 September 1879 |
| Launched: | 3 August 1880 |
| Commissioned: | 11 October 1881 |
| Fate: |
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| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class & type: | Doterel-class sloop |
| Displacement: | 1,130 tons |
| Length: | 170 ft (52 m) pp |
| Beam: | 36 ft (11 m) |
| Draught: | 15 ft 9 in (4.80 m) |
| Installed power: | 1,140 ihp (850 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Sail plan: | Barque rigged |
| Speed: | 11 1⁄2 knots (21.3 km/h) |
| Range: | 1,480 nmi (2,740 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h) from 150 tons of coal |
| Complement: | 140-150 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Espiegle was a Doterel-class sloop of the Royal Navy, built at the Devonport Dockyard and launched on 3 August 1880.[2]
Design
The Doterel class was designed by Nathaniel Barnaby as a development of William Henry White's 1874 Osprey-class sloop. The graceful clipper bow of the Ospreys was replaced by a vertical stem and the engines were more powerful. The hull was of composite construction, with wooden planks over an iron frame.[1]
Propulsion
Power was provided by three cylindrical boilers, which supplied steam at 60 pounds per square inch (410 kPa) to a two-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine driving a single 13-foot-1-inch (3.99 m) screw. This arrangement produced 1,020 indicated horsepower (760 kW) and a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h).[1]
Armament
Ships of the class were armed with two 7-inch (90cwt) muzzle-loading rifled guns on pivoting mounts, and four 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns (two on pivoting mounts, and two broadside). Four machine guns and one light gun completed the weaponry.[1]
Sail plan
All the ships of the class were provided with a barque rig,[1] that is, square-rigged foremast and mainmast, and fore-and-aft sails only on the mizzen mast.
Crew
Espiegle would have had a normal complement of 140–150 men.[1]
Construction
Espiegle was ordered from Devonport Dockyard and laid down on 23 September 1879. She was launched on 3 August 1880 and was commissioned on 11 October 1881[1] at Devonport.[3]
Service
She commenced service on the Australia Station in November 1881.[2] She left the Australia Station in March 1885 and went to the China Station. She assisted during the Chilean Revolt in 1891. She was fitted out as a boom defence vessel in 1899 and stationed at Southampton; she was renamed Argo in 1902.[1]
Fate
She was sold to W. Thorpe for breaking on 25 August 1921.[1]
References
- Bastock, John (1988), Ships on the Australia Station, Child & Associates Publishing Pty Ltd; Frenchs Forest, Australia. ISBN 0-86777-348-0
- Winfield, Rif & Lyon, David (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.
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