Condor Class Sloop (1898)
Six Condor class sloops were completed for the Royal Navy in 1899 and 1900. The loss of the Condor herself in December 1901 hastened the end of sail in the service.
| Overview of six vessels | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citations for this data available on individual ship pages | |||||
| Name | Builder | Laid Down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate |
| Condor | Sheerness DYd | 1 Jan, 1898 | 17 Dec, 1898 | 1 Nov, 1900 | Lost 3 Dec, 1901 |
| Rosario | Sheerness DYd | 1 Jan, 1898 | 17 Dec, 1898 | 20 Mar, 1900 | Sold 11 Nov, 1921 |
| Mutine | Wm. Laird & Son | 1898 | 1 Mar, 1900 | 28 Nov, 1901 | Sold 16 Aug, 1932 |
| Rinaldo | Wm. Laird & Son | 1898 | 29 May, 1900 | 26 Nov, 1901 | Sold 21 Oct, 1921 |
| Shearwater | Sheerness DYd | 1899 | 10 Feb, 1900 | 24 Oct, 1901 | Sold May 1922 |
| Vestal | Sheerness DYd | 1899 | 10 Feb, 1900 | 28 Nov, 1901 | Sold 21 Oct, 1921 |
Design & Construction
Performance
As completed the Condors apparently had an inadequate stability under sail, and before her loss Condor's only captain, Commander Clifton Sclater, complained to the D.N.C. of what D. K. Brown described as "poor stability and heavy rolling, exacerbated by inadequate freeing ports in the high bulwarks." Although calculations by an Assistant Constructor implied that Sclater "was exaggerating", he seems to have been proved tragically right when Condor disappeared with all hands in a severe gale off Vancouver Island. The Admiralty subsequently ceased including sails in new ship classes altogether, and the rigs used by existing vessels was much reduced.[1]
Armament
As Completed
- six 4-inch QG BL Mk III
- four 3-pounders
See Also
Footnotes
Bibliography
- Brown, David K, RCNC (2003). Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860 — 1905. London: Chatham Publishing. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
- Chesneau, Robert; Kolesnik, Eugene (editors) (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
- Lyon, David; Winfield, Rif (2004). The Sail & Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy, 1815-1889. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1861760329. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
| Condor Class Sloop | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Condor | Rosario | Mutine | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rinaldo | Shearwater | Vestal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sloops (UK) | Cadmus Class | –> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
