HMS Calliope (1884)
HMS Calliope was a Calypso-class corvette (later classified as a third-class cruiser) of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom which served from 1887 until 1951. Exemplifying the transitional nature of the late Victorian navy, Calliope was a sailing corvette—the last such ship built for the Royal Navy—but supplemented the full sail rig with a powerful engine. Steel was used for the hull, and like the earlier iron-hulled corvettes, Calliope was cased with timber and coppered below the waterline, in the same manner as wooden ships.
HMS Calliope | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Calliope |
| Builder | HM Dockyard Portsmouth |
| Cost | Hull: £82,000; machinery: £38,000 |
| Laid down | 1 October 1881 |
| Launched | 24 June 1884 |
| Sponsored by | Lady Phipps Hornby |
| Completed | 25 January 1887 |
| Commissioned | 25 January 1887 |
| Maiden voyage | 1 March 1887 |
| Renamed |
|
| Nickname(s) | "Hurricane Jumper" |
| Fate | Sold for breaking 1951 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Calypso-class corvette |
| Displacement | 2,770 long tons |
| Length | 235 ft (71.6 m) pp |
| Beam | 44 ft 6 in (13.6 m) |
| Draught | 19 ft 11 in (6.1 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 4-cylinder compound-expansion J. and G. Rennie steam engine, driving a single screw |
| Sail plan | Barque rig |
| Speed | 13.75 kn (25.5 km/h) powered; 14.75 kn (27.3 km/h) forced draught |
| Range | 4,000 nmi (7,400 km) @ 10-knot (19 km/h) |
| Complement | 293 (later 317) |
| Armament |
|
| Armour | Deck: 1.5 in (38 mm) over engines |
Calliope was known for "one of the most famous episodes of seamanship in the 19th century", when the vessel was the only ship present to avoid being sunk or stranded in the tropical cyclone that struck Apia, Samoa in 1889. After retirement from active service, Calliope served as a training ship until 1951, when it was sold for breaking.