HMS Opal (1875)
      For other ships of the same name, see 
HMS Opal.
 
  Opal in Sydney  | 
| History | 
 United Kingdom
 | 
| Name: | 
HMS Opal | 
| Builder: | 
William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland | 
| Laid down: | 
13 October 1873 | 
| Launched: | 
9 March 1875 | 
| Fate: | 
Sold for breaking at Sheerness, August 1892 | 
| General characteristics [1] | 
| Class & type: | 
Emerald-class corvette | 
| Displacement: | 
2,120 tons | 
| Tons burthen: | 
1,864 bm | 
| Length: | 
220 ft (67 m) pp | 
| Beam: | 
40 ft (12 m) | 
| Draught: | 
- 16 ft 6 in (5.03 m) forwards
 
- 18 ft (5.5 m) aft
 
  | 
| Depth of hold: | 
21 ft 6 in (6.55 m) | 
| Installed power: | 
 | 
| Propulsion: | 
- 2-cylinder horizontal compound expansion steam engine
 
- 6 × cylindrical boilers
 
- Single hoisting screw
 
  | 
| Sail plan: | 
Full-rigged ship (barque from the 1880s) | 
| Complement: | 
232 | 
| Armament: | 
 | 
HMS Opal was an Emerald-class corvette of the Royal Navy, laid down as Magicienne by William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland and launched on 9 March 1875.[2]
She was completed with an armament of 14 muzzle-loading 64-pounder rifled guns (2 as bow and stern chasers mounted on centre-line swivelling slides, and 12 on broadside slide mountings) and initially commenced service on the Pacific Station, and while on passage in 1876 hit a rock in the Strait of Magellan. She was damaged and repairs were undertaken at Esquimalt.[2] She returned to England in 1880 for refit, in which her broadside armament was reduced by 2 guns and she was re-rigged as a barque. She sailed for service on the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station in 1883, before commencing service on the Australia Station in 1885.[2] She returned to England in 1890 and was placed into reserve. She was sold for breaking up at Sheerness in August 1892.[2]
Citations
- ↑  Winfield (2004), p.288
 - 1 2 3 4  Bastock, p.87.
 
 
References
External links