Satellite-class sloop

Satellite
Class overview
Name	Satellite-class sloops
Builders	Devonport Dockyard Sheerness Dockyard
Operators	Royal Navy  Irish Free State
Cost	£62,900 (Satellite) - £71,000 (Caroline)
Built	1883–1888
In commission	1883–1947
Completed	7
General characteristics
Displacement	1,420 tons
Length	200 ft (61 m)
Beam	38 ft (12 m)
Draught	15.7 ft (4.8 m)[1]
Installed power	1,400 hp (1,044 kW)
Propulsion	Horizontal compound expansion steam engine Single screw[1]
Sail plan	Barque-rigged
Range	Approximately 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)[1]
Complement	170-200
Armament	As designed: Two BL 6-inch/100-pounder (81cwt) Mk II guns Ten BL 5-inch (127.0 mm) 50-pounder (38cwt) guns One light gun Four machine guns[1] Heroine, Hyacinth, Royalist & Satellite: Eight BL 6-inch/100-pounder (81cwt) Mk II guns One light gun Four machine guns[1][2]
Armour	Internal steel deck over machinery and magazines

The Satellite class was a class of 12-gun composite sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1883 and 1888, and reclassified as corvettes in 1884.^[2]

Designed by Nathaniel Barnaby,^[1] the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction, the hull was of composite construction; that is, iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts with wooden planking. This class of composite sloops was unique in having an internal steel deck over the machinery and magazines for protection. The Satellite class were reclassified as corvettes in 1884, and no more composite or wooden corvettes were built - in fact, Pylades was the last corvette built for the Royal Navy until the Second World War.

Propulsion was provided by a horizontal compound expansion of 1,400 indicated horsepower (1,044 kW) driving a single screw.

All the ships of the class were built with a barque rig.

The class was designed with two 6-inch/100-pounder (81cwt) breech loaders and ten 5-inch/50-pounder (38cwt) breech loaders, plus a single light gun and four (or more) machine guns.^[1] Heroine, Hyacinth and Royalist were built with eight 6-inch/100-pounder (81cwt) breech loaders in place of the 5-inch/6-inch mixture, and Satellite was converted to the same fit.^[1]

These ships were designed to patrol the far-flung reaches of Britain's maritime empire, and so Rapid and Royalist both went to the Australian Station, Satellite to the Pacific Station, Pylades to the North America and West Indies Station and Heroine, Caroline and Hyacinth all to the China Station.^[4]

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• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.