Beacon-class gunvessel

	HMS Hornet
Class overview
Name	Beacon class
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Plover class
Succeeded by	Frolic class
Built	1867–1868
Completed	18
Lost	1
Scrapped	17
General characteristics (as built)
Type	Composite screw gunvessel
Displacement	603 long tons (613 t)
Tons burthen	464 bm
Length	155 ft (47.2 m) (p/p)
Beam	25 ft (7.6 m)
Draught	9 ft 6 in (2.9 m) (maximum)
Depth	11 ft (3.4 m)
Installed power	3 × cylindrical boilers; 472–641 ihp (352–478 kW);
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 × steam engines
Sail plan	Barque rig
Speed	9–10 knots (17–19 km/h; 10–12 mph)
Complement	80
Armament	1 × 7-inch rifled muzzle-loading gun; 1 × 6.3-inch 64-pounder rifled muzzle-loading gun; 2 × 20-pounder rifled breech-loading guns;

The Beacon-class gunvessels were a class of composite gunboats built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. They were the first warships of the Royal Navy expressly designed to use the engines of an older class of ships with a different hull shape. They were generally deployed overseas to the China, East Indies, West Africa, Pacific, North America and West Indies Stations. In addition to showing the flag, the ships fought pirates and suppressed the slave trade in East and West Africa. As their engines wore out in the mid-1880s, they were mostly retired and scrapped by the end of the decade. A few survived into the early 1900s as they were modified for harbour service before being sold or scrapped.

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