Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

HMS Iris (1877)

Cruiser of the Royal Navy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

HMS Iris (1877)
Remove ads

HMS Iris the lead ship of her class of two ships built for the Royal Navy in the 1870s. They were the first all-steel warships to serve with the Royal Navy.

Quick Facts History, United Kingdom ...
Remove ads

Design and description

Summarize
Perspective

The Iris-class ships were designed as dispatch vessels and were later redesignated as second-class protected cruisers. Iris had an overall length of 331 feet 6 inches (101 m), a beam of 46 feet (14 m), and a draught of 20 feet 6 inches (6.2 m). They displaced 3,730 long tons (3,790 t) at normal load[1] and were the first British warships with an all-steel hull.[2] Their crew consisted of 275 officers and ratings.[1]

The Iris class was powered by a pair of horizontal four-cylinder Maudslay, Sons and Field compound-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam from eight oval and four cylindrical boilers.[1] The engines were designed to produce a total of 6,000 indicated horsepower (4,500 kW) for a speed of 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Iris initially reached a maximum speed of 16.6 knots (30.7 km/h; 19.1 mph) from 7,086 ihp (5,284 kW) during her sea trials, but after new propellers were fitted, achieved 17.89 knots (33.13 km/h; 20.59 mph) from 7,330 ihp (5,470 kW).[3] The ship carried enough coal to steam 4,400 nautical miles (8,100 km; 5,100 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). She was initially fitted with a barque sailing rig, but this was removed after a few years.[1]

The Iris-class ships were originally armed with ten 64-pounder (6.3-inch (160 mm)) rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns, eight on the main deck and the remaining pair on the upper deck on pivot mounts to serve as chase guns fore and aft.[1]

Remove ads

Construction and career

Thumb
The War in Egypt, HMS Iris with the Gunboats Beacon and Decoy blockading Damietta, The Graphic 1882

Iris was laid down at the Pembroke Dockyard on 10 November 1875, launched on 12 April 1877 and completed in April 1879.[1] She served with the Mediterranean Fleet from 1879 to 1887, then in the Portsmouth Reserve from 1887 to 1903. She was a tender to HMS St Vincent in 1903– 1904[4] and was sold for scrap on 11 July 1905.[1]

Remove ads

Citations

Bibliography

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads