Amazon-class sloop
HMS Vestal moored in Australia at an unknown date | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Amazon-class sloop |
| Builders | |
| Operators | Royal Navy |
| Preceded by | Rosario-class sloop |
| Succeeded by | Eclipse-class sloop |
| Built | 1865–1866 |
| In commission | 1865–1885 |
| Completed | 6 |
| Lost | 2 |
| Retired | 4 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Screw sloop |
| Displacement | 1,525–1,640 long tons (1,549–1,666 metric tons) |
| Length | 56.99 m (187 ft) |
| Beam | 10.97 m (36 ft) |
| Draught | 4.69 m (15 ft) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Sail plan | Barque |
| Speed | 12–13 knots (22–24 km/h; 14–15 mph) |
| Complement | 150 |
| Armament |
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The Amazon-class sloop was a series of six wooden screw sloops operated by the Royal Navy between 1865 and 1885. The design was inspired by the American Civil War where Confederate commerce raiders attacked Union merchant ships. The sloops were intended to be fast and powerful enough to destroy enemy commerce raiders at long range to defend British trade. Only one ship was able to reach the intended top speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph), which was considered a major shortcoming of the design. An attempt to fix the flaw was the initial basis for the later Eclipse-class sloop.
When in service, the sloops were sent across the British Empire. Amazon was sunk in a collision soon after she was completed and Niobe ran aground off Canada in 1874. Ships of the class performed exceedingly well in suppressing the Indian Ocean slave trade in the late 1860s and early 1870s, and three of the ships were rearmed with an uniform armament that decade. By the early 1880s, the ships were worn and withdrawn from service.