Atholl-class corvette

Success undergoing repairs after running aground on Carnac Reef
Class overview
Name	Atholl-class corvettes
Operators	Royal Navy
Completed	14
Cancelled	4
General characteristics
Type	Sixth-rate corvette
Tons burthen	499 91/94 bm (as designed)
Length	113 ft 8 in (34.65 m) (gundeck) 94 ft 8.75 in (28.8735 m) (keel)
Beam	31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	175
Armament	28 guns: Upper Deck: 20 × 32-pounder carronades Quarterdeck: 6 × 18-pounder carronades Forecasle: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Rattlesnake by Oswald Walters Brierly, 1853

The Atholl-class corvettes were a series of fourteen Royal Navy sailing sixth-rate post ships built to an 1817 design by the Surveyors of the Navy. A further four ships ordered to this design were cancelled.

Non-standard timber were used in the construction of some; for example, the first pair (Atholl and Niemen) were ordered built of larch and Baltic fir respectively, for comparative evaluation of these materials; the three ships the East India Company built,(Alligator, Termagant and Samarang), were built of teak. Nimrod was built of African timber.

Ships in class

• HMS Atholl
  • Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
  • Ordered: 27 October 1816
  • Laid down: November 1818
  • Launched: 23 November 1820
  • Completed: 9 February 1821
  • Fate: Broken up at Plymouth in 1863.
• HMS Niemen
  • Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
  • Ordered: 27 October 1816
  • Laid down: July 1819
  • Launched: 23 November 1820
  • Completed: February 1821
  • Fate: Broken up at Portsmouth in 1828.
• HMS Ranger
  • Builder: Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Ordered: 30 April 1818
  • Laid down: January 1819
  • Launched: 7 December 1820
  • Completed: 12 June 1822
  • Fate: Sold in 1832.
• HMS Rattlesnake
  • Builder: Chatham Dockyard
  • Ordered: 30 April 1818
  • Laid down: August 1819
  • Launched: 26 March 1822
  • Completed: 8 May 1824
  • Fate: Broken up at Chatham in 1860.
• HMS North Star
  • Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
  • Ordered: 30 April 1818
  • Laid down: April 1820
  • Launched: 7 February 1824
  • Completed: 26 May 1826
  • Fate: Broken up at Chatham in 1860.
• HMS Tweed
  • Builder: Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Ordered: 30 April 1818
  • Laid down: December 1820
  • Launched: 14 April 1823
  • Completed: 12 April 1824
  • Fate: Sold in 1852.
• HMS Talbot
  • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard
  • Ordered: 30 April 1818
  • Laid down: March 1821
  • Launched: 9 October 1824
  • Completed: 21 December 1825 at Plymouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Depot ship 1855. Sold in 1896.
• HMS Rainbow
  • Builder: Chatham Dockyard
  • Ordered: 30 April 1818
  • Laid down: April 1822
  • Launched: 20 November 1823
  • Completed: 6 November 1825
  • Fate: Sold in 1838.
• HMS Alligator
  • Builder: East India Company, Cochin
  • Ordered: 5 June 1819
  • Laid down: November 1819
  • Launched: 29 March 1821
  • Completed: 3 September 1822 at Woolwich Dockyard
  • Fate: Depot ship 1841. Sold in 1865.
• HMS Termagant
  • Builder: East India Company, Cochin
  • Ordered: 5 June 1819
  • Laid down: March 1820
  • Launched: 15 November 1821
  • Completed: 16 July 1824 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Renamed Herald 15 May 1824. Survey ship 1845. Sold in 1862.
• HMS Samarang
  • Builder: East India Company, Cochin
  • Ordered: 5 June 1819
  • Laid down: March 1821
  • Launched: 1 January 1822
  • Completed: 7 June 1824 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Hulked as guard ship 1847. Sold in 1883.
• Andromeda (-) - re-ordered in 1826 as Nimrod (see below)
• HMS Success
  • Builder: Pembroke Dockyard
  • Ordered: 5 June 1819
  • Laid down: July 1823
  • Launched: 30 August 1825
  • Completed: 3 June 1826 at Plymouth Dockyard
  • Fate: Broken up at Portsmouth in 1849.
• HMS Crocodile
  • Builder: Chatham Dockyard
  • Ordered: 5 June 1819
  • Laid down: December 1823
  • Launched: 28 October 1825
  • Completed: 27 August 1828
  • Fate: Broken up at Chatham in 1860.
• Alarm (-) - re-ordered 1828 as Conway-class vessel
• Daphne (-) - re-ordered 1826 as a sloop, but cancelled 1832
• Porcupine (-) - re-ordered 1826 as a sloop, but cancelled 1832
• HMS Nimrod
  • Builder: Deptford Dockyard
  • Ordered: 9 March 1826
  • Laid down: October 1821 (as Andromeda - see above)
  • Launched: 26 August 1828
  • Completed: 11 December 1828
  • Fate: Sold in 1907.

References

• Rif Winfield & David Lyon, The Sail and Steam Navy List, 1815-1889, Chatham Publishing, London 2004. ISBN 1-86176-032-9.