HMS Ringdove was a Vigilant-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy. She was launched by J. Samuel White, Cowes in 1856 and broken up in Cowes in 1866.
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Ringdove |
| Ordered | 26 July 1855[1] |
| Builder | J & R White, Cowes[1] |
| Cost | £31,748[1] |
| Launched | 22 February 1856[1] |
| Commissioned | 31 May 1856[1] |
| Decommissioned | 10 November 1864[2] |
| Fate | Sold on 2 June 1865 and broken up by White at Cowes in November 1866[1] |
| General characteristics [4] | |
| Class and type | Vigilant-class second-class despatch/gunvessel |
| Displacement | 860 tons |
| Tons burthen | 669 79/94 bm |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 28 ft 4 in (8.6 m) |
| Draught | 8 ft (2.4 m) (designed)[3] |
| Depth of hold | 14 ft (4.27 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Sail plan | Barque-rigged |
| Speed | 11 kn (20 km/h) under steam |
| Complement | 90[5] |
| Armament |
|
Design edit
Her class were designed as second-class despatch and gunvessels.[4] They were intended to operate close inshore during the Crimean War and were essentially enlarged versions of the Arrow-class gunvessel, which has been designed by the Surveyor’s Department in 1854.[1]
A two-cylinder horizontal single expansion steam engine by Miller Ravenhill & Co. provided 677 indicated horsepower (505 kW) through a single screw. All Vigilant-class gunvessels were barque-rigged.[1] Although designed with a pair of 68-pounder Lancaster muzzle-loading rifles, the Vigilant class were finished with one 7-inch (180 mm)/110-pound (50 kg) Armstrong breech-loading gun, one 68-pound (31 kg) Lancaster muzzle-loading rifled gun and two 20-pounder breech loaders.[4]
Service edit
In February 1856, Ringdove was assigned under the command of Commander Isaac Newton Thomas Saulez. On 20 September 1856, command was transferred to Commander Robert George Craigie.[2]
In June 1861, Ringdove entered the Seto Inland Sea,[6] where she performed soundings and naming.[7] By July, she was stationed in Edo Bay during the Mito rōnin attack on the British Legation in Tōzen-ji.[8] After the incident, Laurence Oliphant, who survived the attack, joined Craigie on Ringdove for a reconnaissance mission in Tsushima. Craigie reported to Admiral James Hope the activities of Russians in the area, leading to the withdrawal of Russian troops from Tsushima in autumn 1861.[9]
By April 1862, Ringdove was anchored off the British Consulate in the Chinese city of Ningbo, which was occupied by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.[10] On 22 April, the Taiping troops celebrated the arrival of General Fan Youzeng from Nanking.[11] The celebrations which involved the firing several poorly-aimed musket shots. Some of the shots narrowly missed Ringdove. Craigie wrote to the Taiping generals and Admiral Hope to complain.[10][12][13] Despite Craigie receiving profuse apologies from General Huang Chengzhong,[11][12] Roderick Dew, commander of the British forces, demanded that the east-facing Taiping batteries to be dismantled. The demands were not met, and eventually escalated to the retaking of Ningbo on 10 May.[12] During the battle, Ringdove took down the guns at the North Gate of the city.[14] After the battle, she was placed about 25 miles up the Yong River, to prevent Taiping retaliation on civilians.[15]
On 16 September 1862, command was transferred to Commander Ralph Abercrombie Otho Brown, until her decommissioning on 10 November 1864.[2]
Citations edit
- ^ a b c d e f g h Winfield & Lyon 2004, p. 220.
- ^ Preston & Major 2007, p. 150.
- ^ a b c Winfield & Lyon 2004, p. 219.
- ^ Wilson 1868, p. 98.
- ^ Thomas 2018, p. 45.
- ^ Royal Museums Greenwich.
- ^ Ion 2002, p. 5.
- ^ Cortazzi 2000, pp. 95–96.
- ^ a b Clowes 1903.
- ^ a b Uhalley 1971, p. 23.
- ^ a b c Platt 2012, pp. 275–277.
- ^ Wilson 1868, p. 96.
- ^ Wilson 1868, p. 99.
- ^ Wilson 1868, p. 105.
References edit
- Clowes, William Laird (1903). The Royal Navy: a history from the earliest times to the death of Queen Victoria. Vol. 7. Sampson Low, Marston and Company. pp. 138–150. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020.
- Cortazzi, Hugh (2000). Collected Writings of Modern Western Scholars on Japan. Tokyo: Japan Library and Edition Synapse. ISBN 9781873410967.
- Thomas, Graham (2018). A Victorian Sailor's Grave in the Seto Inland Sea: The life and death of Frank Toovey Lake.
- Ion, A. H. (2002). "The Namamugi Incident and the Satsu-Ei and Bakan Wars". In Kennedy, George C.; Neilson, Keith (eds.). Incidents and International Relations: People, Power, and Personalities. Westport, CT: Praeger. pp. 1–24. ISBN 0275965961.
- Platt, Stephen R. (1 July 2012). Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, The West and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War. Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-0-85789-769-5.
- Preston, Antony; Major, John (2007). Send a Gunboat: The Victorian Navy and Supremacy at Sea, 1854–1904 (2 ed.). London: Conway. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-85177-923-2.
- "Japan Seto Uchi or inland sea from a Japanese government map". Royal Museums Greenwich. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
- Uhalley, Stephen Jr. (1971). "The Taipings at Ningpo: The Significance of a Forgotten Event". Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 11: 17–32. JSTOR 23881506.
- "HMS Ringdove (1856)". The Victorian Royal Navy. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
- Wilson, Andrew (1868). The "Ever-Victorious Army". Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons.
- Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail & Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy, 1815-1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6.