Ant Class Gunboat (1870)

The Ant Class Gunboats were "flatiron" vessels designed by George Rendel of Armstrong, Whitworth & Company for coastal duties. They were highly maneuverable and were the first Royal Navy warships to dispense with sails altogether. They were simply and sturdily built, as shown by the fact that six were rearmed with modern weapons for coastal fire support during the First World War, despite the fact they'd been forty years in service and had been serving as harbour service tenders for some time.

The four vessels launched in 1879 are usually listed as a separate class, but were identical except for their date of completion.

Overview of twenty-four vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Ant Class
Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Fate
Ant	Laird		14 August, 1873		Sold 2 June, 1926
Arrow	Rennie		22 April, 1871		Sold 1 March, 1922
Badger	Chatham		13 March, 1871		Sold 6 October, 1908
Blazer	Portsmouth		7 December, 1870		Sold 19 August, 1919
Bloodhound	Armstrong, Whitworth & Company		22 April, 1871		Sold 28 June, 1921
Bonetta	Rennie		20 May, 1871		Sold 12 January, 1909
Bulldog	Campbell Johnston		17 September, 1872		Sold 16 July, 1906
Bustard	Robert Napier & Sons		7 January, 1871		Sold March, 1923
Comet	Portsmouth		8 December, 1870		Sold 12 May, 1908
Cuckoo	Laird		14 August, 1873		Sold 1959
Fidget	Chatham		13 March, 1872		Hulked 1905
Hyaena	Laird		30 August, 1873		Sold 3 April, 1906
Kite	Robert Napier & Sons		8 February, 1871		Sold 18 May, 1920
Mastiff	Armstrong, Whitworth & Company		4 April, 1871		Sold 28 November, 1931
Pickle	Campbell Johnston		17 September, 1872		Dockyard lighter 1906
Pike	Campbell Johnston		16 October, 1872		Sold 27 March, 1920
Scourge	Chatham		25 March, 1871		Disposed of after 1930?
Snake	Chatham		25 March, 1871		Disposed of after 1907?
Snap	Campbell Johnston		11 December, 1872		Sold 1909
Weazel	Laird		4 September, 1873		Oil lighter C.118 1904
Gadfly Class
Gadfly	Pembroke		5 May, 1879		Sold 1918
Griper	Pembroke		15 September, 1879		Broken up 1951?
Pincher	Pembroke		5 May, 1879		Sold 11 June, 1905
Tickler	Pembroke		15 September, 1879		Broken up 1937

Design

The vessels were as follows:

• 254 tons
• 89.5 feet overall (85 pp)
• 26 foot beam
• 6 foot draught
• 260 I.H.P. for 8 knots

Armament

This varied by vessel by 1914:

• Ant: two 4.7-in
• Blazer: two 12-pdr, two 6-pdr
• Bloodhound: two 6-pdr. Disarmed in November, 1915.
• Bustard: one 6-in, one 4.7-in. Disarmed in October, 1916.
• Kite: one 6-in, one 4.7-in. Disarmed in November, 1915.
• Mastiff: two 4.7-in, one 12-pdr

Service

Though they had first been built for service against the Russians in the Baltic and had spent several years lying at Haslar, in April 1878 the boats were considered for service in the Crimean War.

See Also

• Wikipedia