The idea for the flatiron gunboat came about because Sir W G Armstrong and Company's naval architect, George Rendel, wanted a small craft that was suitably sturdy to carry and test fire the large calibre gun the company manufactured. When one of the Royal Navy's gunnery experts, Admiral Sir Astley Cooper-Key, saw it in operation he realised that this sort of craft would be an ideal coastal defence vessel that could operate inshore defending estuaries, potential landing sites, and minefields. Two prototypes were built (HMS Staunch and HMS Plucky) and these proved to be the first of many such gunboats to be built for the Royal Navy and many foreign navies.
(They were called flatiron gunboats because their silhouette was thought to resemble the shape of a domestic flatiron.)
HMS Staunch: The first of the many
Her characteristics were:
- Displacement: 180 tons
- Dimensions:
- Length: 80ft
- Beam: 25ft
- Draught: 6ft 5in
- Propulsion: 2 Stephenson steam engines, each driving a propeller shaft
- Speed: 7 knots
- Complement: 25
- Armament: 1 x 9-inch (12-tom) RML (rifled muzzle-loading) gun
The prototype flatiron gunboat. Her funnel was raised soon after she entered service with the Royal Navy. She spent her entire service based in Portsmouth and in 1904 she was sold for use as a fuel barge.
Interesting! Never seen one of those before. Will look in the library's 1906 Jane's for them.
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
DeleteI hope to write some more blog posts about these unusual craft, which served with quite a number of navies.
You might find some mentioned in Jane’s 1906 edition, most likely amongst the entries relating to smaller craft.
All the best,
Bob
Lovely little boats. I'm in the middle of making a working model about 15 inches long for my grandson. There is a large scale plan available for a model about 3 feet long, and some photos to be found on a web search.
ReplyDeleteJoppy,
DeleteGood luck with your model making. I seem to remember that some years ago MODEL BOATS gave away some free plans of a flatiron gunboat.
I’ve built two wargaming models of one of these gunboats, one by converting a model tug that was intended to be used on an HO model railway layout and another from scratch using FIMO plastic modelling clay.
All the best,
Bob