NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Landrail  

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Curlew			Devonport DYd	5.1.1885	23.10.1885	22.6.1886	sold to BU 7.1906
Landrail			Devonport DYd	5.1.1885	19.1.1886	10.3.1887	sunk as target 4.10.1906

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	950
Displacement full, t
Length, m	59.4 pp
Breadth, m	8.53
Draught, m	3.20
No of shafts	2
Machinery	sails + 2 HC direct action, 4 cylindrical boilers
Power, h. p.	1500
Max speed, kts	14.5
Fuel, t	coal 250
Endurance, nm(kts)	10000(10)
Armament	1 x 1 - 152/26 BL Mk IV/VI, 3 x 1 - 127/25 BL Mk I/II/III/IV/V, 7 x 1 - 11.4/94, 1 - 356 TT (bow, aw), 2 - 356 TC (through 4 ports)
Complement	46

Graphics

Project history The Curlew class were what might be described as an attempt to modernise the gunvessel but as the resultant type fulfilled no real need they were not repeated and soon

The Curlew class were what might be described as an attempt to modernise the gunvessel but as the resultant type fulfilled no real need they were not repeated and soon became obsolete. They were of similar size and general arrangement to a standard composite gunvessel but were constructed of steel with a finer, shallower hull and more powerful, forced draught machinery to provide a higher speed, had no sailing rig and were given a torpedo as well as a gun armament. Unfortunately they were too slow and too small to operate effectively with the fleet and were too sophisticated to take up the duties of their 'old-fashioned' predecessors. They cost about 25% more to construct than a standard gun vessel and the very fact that they had no sails and an unsheathed steel hull made them an uneconomic proposition on distant stations.     They carried a single 152mm BLR, on the forecastle, and three 127mm BLR, one on the poop and two in the waist on the upper deck. A fixed torpedo tube was mounted at the extreme forward end of the upper deck firing through the stem while the two torpedo carriages, one under the forecastle and one under the poop, were provided with alternate discharge ports to port and starboard. Modernizations: 1903, Curlew: mainmast was removed.

Naval service

No significant events.