This is a list of gunboat and gunvessel classes of the Royal Navy.
For gun-brigs see List of gun-brigs of the Royal Navy.
Steam gunboats
Wooden paddle gunboats (Indian service)
Wooden paddle gunboats (Great Lakes)
NameBuilderLaunchedFateUnited States1834Ex-merchantman General Porter, built in 1834 in the United States and purchased by the Royal Navy on 7 July 1838. Sold in 1843Niagara Dock Company1838A paddle-wheeled steamboat, purchased on 21 July 1838. Sold in 1847 or 1848Niagara Dock Company1838Ex-merchant ship, purchased at Niagara on 30 April 1839 and sold in 1844Canada1836A two-masted schooner (may not have had an engine) purchased for use on Lake Erie on 18 October 1839. Sold 1848Chippawa, OntarioJune 1840Sold to Mr Weston in March 1852Montreal1841Purchased while building at Montreal in 1841. Served in the Mediterranean as a packet. Refitted and reboilered at Woolwich in 1843–44. Sold at Malta on 11 July 1846Kingston Navy Yard, Ontario22 September 1842Sold to Messrs. Campbell, Forsyth, Yarwood & Gaskin on 30 October 1851MagnetHamilton, Canada1846The British Government made a part payment while during build, retaining the right to assume possession of the vessel on payment of the remaining portion. The right was relinquished in 1864PurchasedUnknownPurchased in 1847
Iron paddle gunboat (Great Lakes)
Mohawk (1843)
NameBuilderLaunchedFateWilliam Fairbairn & Company, Millwall21 February 1843 Delivered in pieces to the Kingston Yard, Lake Ontario. Served on Lake Ontario and later on Lake Huron. Lengthened by in 1846. Sold to J F Park on 21 June 1852
Iron paddle despatch vessels/gunboats
(1855)
NameBuilderLaunchedFateJ Scott Russell, Millwall5 July 1856Sold for breaking on 18 February 1873J Scott Russell, Millwall30 August 1856Sold at Lagos on 19 May 1863
Wooden screw gunboats
Gleaner (or Pelter) class
(1855)
(or Bruizer) (cancelled) (cancelled) (cancelled) (cancelled)
Composite screw gunboats The gunboats designed from 1870 onwards were of composite construction, i.e. they had an iron keel, stem and stern posts, and iron framing, with wooden planking retained over the iron frames.
Albacore class
Bramble class
NameBuilderLaunchedFateDevonport Dockyard10 April 1888Sold to Cox for breaking at Falmouth on 15 May 1906Devonport Dockyard10 May 1888Sold in 1909 at Simonstown to Ward of Preston; arrived Preston for breaking on 6 May 1913Pembroke Dockyard22 June 1888Sold to Ellis, Chepstow for breaking on 15 May 1906Sheerness Dockyard27 July 1888Sold to Cox for breaking at Falmouth on 4 April 1905Pembroke Dockyard5 September 1888Sold to V Grech for commercial use on 15 May 1906Pembroke Dockyard18 October 1888Boom defence vessel in 1904. Sold at Gibraltar on 27 April 1927
Armoured gunboats
The only ironclads of gunboat size were three largely experimental (and unsuccessful) vessels ordered in 1864. The first two were towed to the Royal Naval Dockyard at the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda (being considered unsatisfactory to sail under their own power) where they served as harbour vessels and for coastal defence (Vixen ultimately being sunk to block a channel that torpedo boats might have used to attack ships of the North America and West Indies Station at their anchorage on Grassy Bay). Vixen was the first twin-screw vessel built for the Royal Navy, and Waterwitch employed a form of water pump propulsion.
Iron coastal gunboats
(1867)
NameBuilderLaunchedFateCharles Mitchell & Co, Walker17 June 1867Sold for use as a fuel barge in 1904
(1870)
NameBuilderLaunchedFatePortsmouth Dockyard13 July 1870Renamed Banterer in June 1915, sold for commercial use in 1928 and finally broken up at Inverkeithing in 1969
– Gadfly, Pincher, Griper and Tickler are sometimes referred to as the Gadfly class.
(or River class) (1876)
Steel coastal gunboats (1881)
NameBuilderLaunchedFatePembroke Dockyard15 March 1881Ordered to be converted to a tank vessel in October 1904, but instead sold at Sheerness on 4 April 1905Pembroke Dockyard15 March 1881Gate vessel in January 1918. Foundered in Portsmouth Harbour on 1 July 1922; the wreck was sold to J H Pounds, Portsmouth, on 18 June 1925
(1882)
NameBuilderLaunchedFateCharles Mitchell and Company, Walker30 December 1882Renamed Excellent in May 1891 as a training ship, then Calcutta on 1 November 1916, and finally Snapper in August 1917. Sold on 27 April 1924. She was sold again to Pounds shipbreakers in the 1970s but not broken up. She was finally scrapped in 2008.
(1882)
NameBuilderLaunchedFateArmstrong Whitworth15 June 1887Built for the Ordnance Department and transferred to the Royal Navy in 1901. Renamed Excellent on 21 November 1916 and Dryad on 26 January 1919. Renamed back to Drudge later in 1919 and sold on 27 March 1920
Torpedo ram Polyphemus class
Hull 2 (cancelled 10 November 1882 before being named) Adventure (cancelled 12 August 1885)
Torpedo gunboats
(1887)
Steel gunboats
(1898)
NameBuilderLaunchedFateLondon & Glasgow, Govan15 November 1898Sold to Ward, Pembroke on 13 July 1926Potter, Liverpool26 November 1898Sold at Bombay on 26 January 1920Potter, Liverpool28 March 1899Sold at Bombay on 10 June 1920 and renamed SakuntalaLondon & Glasgow, Govan22 June 1899Sold to Ward, Pembroke on 13 July 1926
River gunboats
(1915) The Insect-class gunboats were a class of small, but well-armed Royal Navy ships designed for use in shallow rivers or inshore. Several of them took also part in World War II. : built by Ailsa shipbuilding, scrapped Singapore, 1947 : built by Ailsa shipbuilding, flagship of Rear Admiral, Yangtze (RAY), sold in March 1939. : built by Barclay Curle, sunk by Japanese bombs on 21 December 1941. : built by Barclay Curle, sold for scrap in 1949, the last surviving member of the class. : built by Barclay Curle, heavily damaged by bombs on 29 June 1941; used as target by Royal Navy and sunk off Cyprus 1944. : built by Barclay Curle, scrapped September 1928. : built by Lobnitz, damaged by U-boat 21 October 1941, declared total loss, and then used as anti-aircraft platform. Scrapped 1946 : built by Lobnitz, sunk on 12 May 1941 off Tobruk during World War II, then used as an anti-aircraft position : built by William Doxford & Sons, sold in January 1940 and subsequently scrapped. : built by William Doxford & Sons, scuttled in Hong Kong 1941, captured and repaired by the Japanese and renamed Suma, sunk by mines in Yangtze River on 19 March 1945. : built by Wood, Skinner & Co, scrapped in 1948. built by Wood, Skinner & Co, briefly flagship of the British Pacific Fleet, expended as a target 1946
Steam gunvessels
Wooden paddle gunvessels
(1831) – steam vessel rated from 1837 as a first-class steam gunvessel
NameBuilderLaunchedFateWoolwich Dockyard28 April 1831Breaking completed at Sheerness on 26 March 1861
(1831) – steam vessels reclassified in 1844 as first-class steam gunvessels
NameBuilderLaunchedFateCurling, Young & Company, Limehouse11 July 1831Re-engined in 1833 and renamed Black Eagle on 5 February 1842, lengthened in 1843 and re-rated as a paddle yacht, completing service as Admiralty yacht until 1857. Broken up at Portsmouth in March 1876Fletcher & Fearnall, Limehouse11 August 1831Refitted for the Holyhead Station in 1848–49. Lost on the coast of West Africa off Monrovia on 22 November 1850
(1832) – steam vessels reclassified in 1844 as first-class steam gunvessels
NameBuilderLaunchedFateWoolwich Dockyard29 September 1832Re-engined in 1844 and became a survey ship. Broken up at Malta in 1866Woolwich Dockyard26 March 1834Wrecked whilst working as a troop ship on Half Moon Cay lighthouse reef, Belize in 1842
(1834) – steam vessels reclassified in 1844 as first-class steam gunvessels
NameBuilderLaunchedFatePembroke Dockyard23 June 1834Re-engined in 1837–38. Breaking completed at Malta on 6 November 1860Chatham Dockyard5.1834Became a survey ship in January 1843. Breaking up completed at Portsmouth in August 1853
(1840) – steam vessels reclassified in 1844 as second class steam gunvessels
NameBuilderLaunchedFateWoolwich Dockyard7 January 1840Initially fitted for surveying. Lost in collision with the French armed steamer Veloce between Gibraltar and Cadiz on 26 July 1843Woolwich Dockyard18 April 1840Became a tug in 1869. Sold at Sheerness in 1895
(1844) – steam vessel reclassified in 1844 as a first-class steam gunvessel
NameBuilderLaunchedFateDeptford Dockyard17 June 1844Became a survey ship in 1862. Sold in 1883
(1845) – steam vessel reclassified in 1844 as a first-class steam gunvessel
NameBuilderLaunchedFateDeptford Dockyard26 March 1845Became a survey ship in 1851 and a tug in 1861. Broken up at Bermuda in 1888
Iron paddle gunvessels
(1845)
NameBuilderLaunchedFateDitchburn & Mare, Leamouth25 February 1845Sold at Sydney on 15 May 1856Ditchburn & Mare, Leamouth4 March 1845Transferred to the War Office as a target on 26 October 1892 and sold as a wreck in 1909
Bloodhound class
Myrmidon class (1845)
NameBuilderLaunchedFateDitchburn & Mare, LeamouthFebruary 1845Sold at Fernando Po on 1 December 1858
Grappler class (1845)
NameBuilderLaunchedFateWilliam Fairbairn & Company, Millwall30 December 1845Sold to W P Beach for breaking on 2 February 1850
(1850)
NameBuilderLaunchedFateJ Scott Russell & Robinson, Millwall1850Ex-Prussian Salamander, commissioned into the Royal Navy on 22 December 1854. Sold to E Bates on 23 September 1869J Scott Russell & Robinson, Millwall1850Ex-Prussian Nix, commissioned into the Royal Navy on 22 December 1854. Harbour service in 1866. Sold at Malta on 29 October 1873
NB. A third vessel of the class was retained by Prussia.
Wooden screw gunvessels
This section includes two early iron-hulled screw gunvessels ordered in May 1845, which in other respects were half-sisters to two wooden-hulled gunvessels ordered at the same time. The four vessels comprised the first-class gunvessels Rifleman (wooden hulled) and Sharpshooter (iron hulled), and the second-class gunvessels Teazer (wooden hulled) and Minx (iron hulled). Further vessels ordered later to the same design were either cancelled or built to very different concepts. Rifleman and Sharpshooter were re-classed as sloops in 1854.
Rifleman class (wooden half-sisters to iron-hulled Sharpshooter)
Sepoy (cancelled 1849) Cossack (cancelled 1849) Sharpshooter class (iron half-sister to wooden Rifleman)
Teazer class (wooden-hulled half-sisters to iron-hulled Minx)
Boxer (cancelled 1849) Biter (cancelled 1849) Minx class (iron half-sister to wooden Teazer)
– 4 first-class gunvessels were ordered in 1852–1853; while still building, they were re-rated as third-class sloops in 1854 and will be found under the list of corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy. – originally rated as "despatch vessels", these six ships were re-classed as second-class gunvessels in 1856.
Philomel (or Ranger) class
Alban (cancelled)
Humber (cancelled) Undine (cancelled) Rye (cancelled) Portia (cancelled) Discovery (cancelled) Cormorant (or Eclipse) class (1860)
Tartarus (cancelled 1864) Pegasus (cancelled 1863) Albatross (cancelled 1863) Guernsey (cancelled 1863) (1867)
Composite screw gunvessels The gunvessels designed from 1867 onwards were of composite construction, i.e. they had an iron keel, stem and stern posts, and iron framing, with wooden planking retained over the iron frames.
(1867)
(1872)
(1874)
(1879)
NameBuilderLaunchedFateThames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Company, Leamouth, London29 November 1879Sold at Hong Kong in 1920 for mercantile use, renamed Hoi ChingThames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Company, Leamouth, London30 January 1880Sold as a salvage vessel on 27 April 1904
(1882)