NAVYPEDIA

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Boomerang (ex-Whiting)			Armstrong, Elswick, UK	17.8.1888	24.7.1889	2.1891	sold 7.1905
Karakatta (ex-Wizard)			Armstrong, Elswick, UK	17.8.1888	27.8.1889	2.1891	sold 1.1905

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	735
Displacement full, t
Length, m	70.1 pp
Breadth, m	8.23
Draught, m	3.20
No of shafts	2
Machinery	2 3-cyl VTE, 4 locomotive boilers
Power, h. p.	natural draught: 2500, forced draught: 3600
Max speed, kts	natural draught: 16.5, forced draught: 19
Fuel, t	coal 100
Endurance, nm(kts)	2500(10)
Armament	2 x 1 - 120/40 QF Mk I/II/III/IV, 4 x 1 - 47/40 3pdr Hotchkiss Mk I, 1 - 356 TT (bow, aw), 2 x 2 - 356 TT (8 at all)
Complement	91

Standard scale images

Project history

This numerically large class showed a considerable increase in size over the Grasshoppers, and was sometimes known as the Assaye or Gossamer class. One of the torpedo tubes was fixed in the bow, the others in paired mounts on either side amidships. The resemblance to contemporary small cruisers was marked. Whilst the vessels built in the Royal Dockyards were allocated to the Royal Navy (provided under the Naval Defence Act, 1889), the four built by Armstrong were allocated to colonial stations, two to the Royal Indian Marine, and two (names were changed in 1890) to the Australian station.  The original intention had been to fit a similar gun armament to the Grasshoppers (l- 102mm, 6-47mm) but trials at Elswick had shown that the 120mm QF gun could fire 10 times per minute as against 2 times for the old 102mm BL so the new gun was adopted instead. Initially the class suffered from hull weakness.

Modernizations

None.

Naval service

No significant events.