![]() HMS Coquette, by William Frederick Mitchell (1873)
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Class overview | |
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Name | Ariel-class gunboats |
Builders |
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Operators |
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Preceded by | Britomart class |
Succeeded by | Forester class |
Cost | Hull £10,600, machinery £3,900 (Swinger)[1] |
Built | 1871–1873 |
In commission | 1871–1895 |
Completed | 9 |
Lost | 0 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | Composite gunboat |
Displacement |
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Tons burthen | 295 bm |
Length | 125 ft 0 in (38.1 m) |
Beam |
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Draught | 10 ft 3 in (3.1 m) max |
Installed power | 60 nhp |
Propulsion |
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Sail plan | Three-masted barquentine rig |
Speed | 9.5 kn (17.6 km/h) |
Complement | 40 (later 60) |
Armament |
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The Ariel-class gunboat was a class of nine 4-gun composite gunboats built for the Royal Navy between 1871 and 1873. Although most were sold by 1890, one of them survived into the 1920s as a salvage vessel in private ownership. They were the first class of Royal Navy gunboat built of composite construction, that is, with iron keel, stem and stern posts, and iron framing, but planked with wood.