Algerine-class gunboat

Leven rigged as a barquentine
Class overview
Name	Algerine-class gunboat
Builders	R & H Green, Blackwall Yard W. & H. Pitcher, Northfleet
Operators	Royal Navy British Merchant Navy Chinese Imperial Customs Egyptian Government
Preceded by	Albacore class
Succeeded by	Britomart class
Cost	Hull £5,668, machinery £4,350 (Jaseur)[Note 1][1]
Built	1856–1857
In commission	1857–1873
Completed	6
Lost	3
Retired	3
General characteristics
Type	Wooden screw gunboat (gunvessels from 1859)[1]
Displacement	370 tons
Tons burthen	300 88⁄94 bm
Length	125 ft 0 in (38.1 m) (gundeck) 110 ft 1.5 in (33.6 m) (keel)
Beam	23 ft 0 in (7.0 m)
Depth of hold	9 ft 3 in (2.8 m)
Installed power	80 nominal horsepower 294 ihp (219 kW)
Propulsion	2-cylinder horizontal direct-acting single-expansion steam engine Single (hoisting) screw
Sail plan	As built: Schooner (or "gunboat") rig Later: Often a barquentine rig
Speed	9 kn (17 km/h)[1]
Armament	As built: 1 × 8-inch (200 mm) 68-pounder (87cwt) muzzle-loading smoothbore gun (in some ships a 10-inch muzzle-loading smoothbore gun instead) 2 × 24-pounder howitzers By 1863: 1 × 110-pounder Armstrong breech-loading gun 1 × 40-pounder Armstrong breech-loading gun

The Algerine-class gunboats were a class of six 3-gun wooden gunboats (reclassified as gunvessels from 1859) built for the Royal Navy in 1857. A further pair were built in India for the Bombay Marine in 1859.

An enlarged version of the very numerous Albacore class, they reflected the change in use from coastal operations towards deep-water cruising, but were delivered too late to see action in the Crimean War. They were the first class of Royal Navy gunboat to incorporate a hoisting screw, which gave them improved performance under sail. The last man hung from the yardarm in the Royal Navy was a Royal Marine executed on 13 July 1860 in Leven.

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