The Gleaner (or Pelter)-class gunboat was a class of six gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1854 for use in the Crimean War.
Design The Gleaner class was designed by W.H. Walker (who also designed the subsequent and es). The ships were wooden-hulled, with steam power as well as sails, but of shallow draught for coastal bombardment in the shallow waters of the Baltic and Black Sea during the Crimean War.
Propulsion Two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engines built by John Penn and Sons, with two boilers, provided 60 nominal horsepower through a single screw, sufficient for .
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
NameShip builderLaunchedFateW & H Pitcher, Northfleet28 August 1854Sold for breaking January 1864, breaking up completed by Tolpult on 1 February 1864W & H Pitcher, Northfleet5 September 1854Breaking completed on 17 February 1864W & H Pitcher, Northfleet23 September 1854Broken up at Portsmouth in June 1864W & H Pitcher, Northfleet4 October 1854Became a coal hulk in 1865, sold in 1906Deptford Dockyard7 October 1854Sold at Montevideo in April 1868Deptford Dockyard7 October 1854Broken up October 1868
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