Dapper-class gunboat
# Dapper-class gunboat

The Dapper-class gunboat was a class of twenty gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1854–55 for use in the Crimean War.

## Design

The Dapper class was designed by W.H. Walker (who also designed the preceding Gleaner class and the subsequent Albacore class). The ships were wooden-hulled, with steam power as well as sails, but of shallow draft for coastal bombardment in the shallow waters of the Baltic and Black Sea during the Crimean War.

### Propulsion

Ten ships had two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion trunk steam engines built by John Penn and Sons, with two boilers. The other ten had two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion direct-acting steam engines built by Maudslay, Sons and Field, with three boilers. Both versions provided 60 nominal horsepower through a single screw, sufficient for 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph).

### Armament

Ships of the class were armed with one 68-pounder smooth bore muzzle loading cannon (SBML), one 32-pounder SBML (originally two 68-pounder SBMLs were planned but the forward gun was substituted by a 32-pounder) and two 24-pounder howitzers.

## Ships

| Name | Ship builder | Engine builder | Launched | Fate |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Lark | Deptford Dockyard | Maudslay | 15 March 1855 | Sold to Marshall for breaking at Plymouth on 18 July 1878 |
| Magpie | Deptford Dockyard | Maudslay | 15 March 1855 | Wrecked in Galway Bay on 8 April 1864 |
| Dapper | R & H Green, Blackwall Yard | Penn | 31 March 1855 | Training hulk 1885, cooking depot 1897, renamed YC37 in 1909, sold to Perry 10 May 1922 |
| Fancy | R & H Green, Blackwall Yard | Penn | 31 March 1855 | Hulked as part of the St Vincent training establishment in 1876, being used as a laundry/drying room. Sold at Portsmouth on 11 July 1905 |
| Grinder | J & R White, West Cowes | Maudslay | 7 March 1855 | Broken up at Haslar on 15 July 1864 |
| Jasper | J & R White, West Cowes | Maudslay | 2 April 1855 | Grounded in action at the Siege of Taganrog on 23 July 1855 |
| Hind | John Jenkins Thompson, Rotherhithe | Maudslay | 3 May 1855 | Broken up at Devonport in October 1872 |
| Jackdaw | John Jenkins Thompson, Rotherhithe | Maudslay | 18 May 1855 | Became a cooking depot in 1868 and sold to C Wort in November 1888 |
| Thistle | W & H Pitcher, Northfleet | Penn | 3 February 1855 | Completed breaking at Deptford on 11 November 1863 |
| Starling | W & H Pitcher, Northfleet | Penn | 1 February 1855 | Sold at Hong Kong on 1 December 1871 |
| Snap | W & H Pitcher, Northfleet | Penn | 3 February 1855 | Sold at Hong Kong in 1868 and then resold to the Japanese as the warship Kaku-ten-shan, then became Snap again in 1872 as a merchantman |
| Redwing | W & H Pitcher, Northfleet | Maudslay | 19 March 1855 | Became tender to the training ship Cambridge at Devonport in 1857, sold on 2 December 1878 |
| Weazel | W & H Pitcher, Northfleet | Penn | 19 March 1855 | Sold at Hong Kong on 18 November 1869 |
| Clinker | W & H Pitcher, Northfleet | Penn | 2 April 1855 | Sold to Castle for breaking at Charlton on 6 June 1871 |
| Cracker | W & H Pitcher, Northfleet | Maudslay | 2 April 1855 | Broken up in April 1864 |
| Boxer | W & H Pitcher, Northfleet | Penn | 7 April 1855 | Broken up at Malta in October 1865 |
| Stork | W & H Pitcher, Northfleet | Maudslay | 7 April 1855 | Coal hulk in 1874, sold for breaking April 1884 |
| Skylark | W & H Pitcher, Northfleet | Penn | 3 May 1855 | Gunnery tender in 1884, sold to Garnham for breaking on 10 July 1906 |
| Biter | W & H Pitcher, Northfleet | Penn | 5 May 1855 | Became a coal hulk on 21 April 1865, later renamed C16. Sold to Castle, Woolwich for breaking on 12 April 1904 |
| Swinger | W & H Pitcher, Northfleet | Maudslay | 10 May 1855 | Broken up on 6 September 1864 |
