Succeeded by Racer class In commission 1856–1876 | Built 1854–1857 Completed 4 | |
The Swallow-class sloop was a 9-gun wooden screw sloop class of four ships built for the Royal Navy between 1854 and 1857.
Contents
Design
Built of a traditional wooden construction, the Swallow class were intended as "type of screw vessel below the Cruizer".
The class were armed with a single 32-pounder gun (58cwt) gun on a pivot mount and eight 32-pounder (25cwt) carronades on the broadside. These guns were all smoothbore muzzle-loading, and were little changed from the standard guns of Nelson's era.
Propulsion was provided by a two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine developing 60 nominal horsepower and an indicated horsepower of between 182 indicated horsepower (136 kW) and 224 indicated horsepower (167 kW). Propulsion was applied through a single screw and at maximum power under steam, top speed was about 7 knots (13 km/h). A barque rig of sails was carried, which meant the ships of the class had three masts with a square rig on the fore and main masts.
Ships
The first two ships were ordered on 5 July 1852, Ariel on 2 April 1853 and Lyra on 3 April 1854.