The Swallow-class sloop was a 9-gun wooden screw sloop class of four ships built for the Royal Navy between 1854 and 1857.
Design Built of a traditional wooden construction, the Swallow class were intended as "type of screw vessel below the ".Winfield (2004) pp. 215–216
The class were armed with a single 32-pounder gun (58 cwt) gun on a pivot mount and eight 32-pounder (25 cwt) carronades on the broadside. These guns were all smoothbore muzzle-loading, and were little changed from the standard guns of Nelson's era.
Propulsion was provided by a two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine developing 60 nominal horsepower and an indicated horsepower of between and . Propulsion was applied through a single screw and at maximum power under steam, top speed was about . A barque rig of sails was carried, which meant the ships of the class had three masts with a square rig on the fore and main masts.
Ships The first two ships were ordered on 5 July 1852, Ariel on 2 April 1853 and Lyra on 3 April 1854.
NameShip BuilderLaid downLaunchedFateDeptford Dockyard19 October 185231 May 1854Sold for breaking on 39 August 1865Pembroke Dockyard30 August 185312 June 1854Became a survey ship in 1861. Sold for breaking in December 1866Pembroke DockyardNovember 185311 July 1854Sold for breaking 23 May 1865Deptford Dockyard8 July 185426 March 1857Broken up in 1876
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