NAVYPEDIA

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Vixen			Lungley, Deptford	1864	18.11.1865	1866	sold 1896
Viper			Dudgeon, Limehouse	1864	21.12.1865	1867	harbour service 1890, tank vessel 1901
Waterwitch			Thames Iron Wks, Blackwall	1864	28.6.1866	1867	sold 4.1890

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	Vixen, Viper: 1228 Waterwitch: 1280
Displacement full, t
Length, m	Vixen, Viper: 48.8 pp Waterwitch: 49.4 pp
Breadth, m	Vixen: 9.88 Viper: 9.75 Waterwitch: 9.78
Draught, m	Vixen, Viper: 3.55 Waterwitch: 3.63
No of shafts	Vixen, Viper: 2 Waterwitch: 1 water jet
Machinery	Vixen, Viper: 2 2-cyl HSE, 4 cylindrical boilers Waterwitch: 1 3-cyl horizontal Ruthven hydraulic reaction engine, 4 cylindrical boilers
Power, h. p.	Vixen: 740 Viper: 696 Waterwitch: 780
Max speed, kts	Vixen, Waterwitch: 8.9 Viper: 9.6
Fuel, t	Vixen, Viper: coal 110 Waterwitch: coal 100
Endurance, nm(kts)
Armour, mm	Iron; belt: 114 on 254mm teak backing, bulkheads: 114
Armament	2 x 1 - 178/16 MLR Mk III, 2 x 1 - 100/21 20pdr 16cwt BL
Complement	80

Project history These three rather odd vessels represented an attempt to apply ironclad principles to the gunboat/gunvessel class and were largely experimental. They were not successful as t

These three rather odd vessels represented an attempt to apply ironclad principles to the gunboat/gunvessel class and were largely experimental. They were not successful as they were slow, unhandy and unseaworthy and they spent the majority of their careers in harbour service. Viper and Vixen were the first ships to be fitted with twin screw machinery and Vixen was the first gunboat of composite construction, having a timber hull on iron frames. Viper and Waterwitch were constructed of iron. Waterwitch was fitted with hydraulic reaction machinery, an early form of turbine propulsion, designed by J Ruthven upon principles laid down by James Rumsey in 1787. The engine drove a centrifugal pump which drew in water from openings in the ship's bottom forward and forced it out under high pressure at the stem giving a form of jet propulsion. The whole system was reversible and Waterwitch was double-ended with a rudder and ram shape at both bow and stern. Her engine room was positioned amidships with the boiler room abaft it which gave her an unusual profile as the funnel was positioned well aft between the main- and mizzenmasts. She proved almost unmanoeuvrable and was a complete failure, although this was as much the fault of the design of the ship as that of the machinery, and she was withdrawn from service before either of her sisters. Modernizations: None.

Naval service

Viper and Vixen were towed to Bermuda, being insufficiency seaworthy to undertake the journey under their own power, where they served as harbour vessels until the end of their careers; Viper was converted to a tank vessel in 1901.