Ant-class gunboat


The Ant-class gunboat was a class of twenty-four Royal Navy flat-iron gunboats mounting a single 10-inch gun, built between 1870 and 1880. They carried no masts or sails, being among the first Royal Navy vessels not to do so. The last four vessels were ordered separately and are sometimes known as the Gadfly class, although they were essentially identical. Members of the class lingered on as steam lighters, dredgers, boom defence vessels and base ships, lasting in some cases into the 1950s.

Design

The flat-iron gunboats were designed for coastal defence and bombardment, and were constructed from iron. They were not rigged, and the single 10-inch muzzle-loading rifle was fitted forward on a hydraulic mount that allowed it to be lowered for a sea passage to improve the vessel's seaworthiness, and raised for action. Power was provided by a pair of two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engines driving twin screws. Together they developed, giving a top speed of about.

Ships

NameShip BuilderLaunchedFate
Portsmouth Dockyard7 December 1870Became seagoing tender for weapons testing in 1904. Gunboat August 1914. Sold to W Loveridge, West Hartlepool 19 August 1919.
Portsmouth Dockyard8 December 1870Sold to J Pas on 12 May 1908 and broken up in the Netherlands
Robert Napier & Sons, Govan7 January 1871Sold to Thos W Ward, Milford Haven March 1923
Robert Napier & Sons, Govan8 February 1871Sold in a partially dismantled state to Hughes Bolckow on 18 May 1920 and converted to a dredger
Chatham Dockyard25 March 1871Converted to tank vessel, renamed C79 in 1903-4 and still listed as in service in 1930
Chatham Dockyard25 March 1871Completed as a cable lighter, renamed YC15 on 23 September 1907
Charles Mitchell and Co, Walker4 April 1871Renamed Snapper in 1914, sold to Thames Shipbreakers Ltd on 28 November 1931
Charles Mitchell and Co, Walker22 April 1871Boom defence vessel in 1917, sold to F Bevis Ltd on 28 June 1921
J & G Rennie, Greenwich22 April 1871Sold to W H Webber on 1 March 1922
J & G Rennie, Greenwich20 May 1871Sold on 12 January 1909 as salvage vessel Disperser and lost in April 1940
Chatham Dockyard13 March 1872Sold to W Loveridge, West Hartlepool on 6 October 1908
Chatham Dockyard13 March 1872Hulked or sold in 1905
Campbell Johnston, North Woolwich17 September 1872Sold to R Gillham on 16 July 1906
Campbell Johnston, North Woolwich16 October 1872Boom defence vessel at Southampton in 1908, sold to G Sharpe on 27 March 1920
Campbell Johnston, North Woolwich15 November 1872Dockyard lighter in 1906
Campbell Johnston, North Woolwich11 December 1872Sold at Chatham to Deaker, Hull in 1909
Laird Brothers, Birkenhead14 August 1873Boom defence vessel 1917, used as a target in 1921, sold to Granton Shipbreaking Company for breaking up on 2 June 1926
Laird Brothers, Birkenhead14 August 1873Became base ship, renamed Vivid on 19 February 1912, Vivid II in January 1922, YC37 in 1923 and finally sold to Hocking, Plymouth in 1959
Laird Brothers, Birkenhead30 August 1873Sold at Chatham to Adrienne Merveille of Dunkirk on 3 April 1906
Laird Brothers, Birkenhead4 September 1873Became oil fuel lighter C118 in 1904
Pembroke Dock5 May 1879Converted to a coal lighter at Simonstown, completing on 18 May 1900 and then renamed YC230. Sold at the Cape in 1918
Pembroke Dock5 May 1879Sold at Portsmouth on 11 June 1905
Pembroke Dock15 September 1879Became steam lighter YC373 in 1905, renamed Flora on 19 June 1923 as base ship, then Afrikander in 1933. Believed to have been broken up at the Cape in 1951
Pembroke Dock15 September 1879Converted to steam lighter at Simonstown in 1902, renamed Afrikander as base ship on 26 February 1919, then Afrikander II in 1933. Broken up at Simonstown in 1937