HMS Fawn (1856)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Fawn.

HMS Fawn was a Royal Navy 17-gun Cruizer-class sloop launched in 1856. She served on the Australia, North America and Pacific stations before being converted to a survey ship in 1876. She was sold and broken up in 1884.

HMS Fawn Caught in a White Squall, Bass Straits, Australia by Richard Brydges Beechey, 1880
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Fawn
Ordered	27 March 1852
Builder	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down	4 May 1854
Launched	30 September 1856
Commissioned	26 November 1859
Decommissioned	1884
Fate	Survey ship from 1876 Sold in 1884
General characteristics
Class and type	Cruizer-class screw sloop
Displacement	1,045 tons
Tons burthen	747+51⁄94 bm
Length	160 ft (49 m) (gundeck) 140 ft 1.75 in (42.7165 m) (keel)
Beam	31 ft 10 in (9.70 m)
Draught	11 ft (3.4 m)
Depth of hold	17 ft 6 in (5.33 m)
Installed power	100 nominal horsepower 434 ihp (324 kW)
Propulsion	Two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine Single screw
Sail plan	Barque-rigged
Speed	8.7 knots (16.1 km/h; 10.0 mph)
Armament	One 32 pdr (56 cwt) pivot gun Sixteen 32 pdr (32 cwt) carriage guns

Construction

Fawn was launched on 30 September 1856 from Deptford Dockyard.

Australia station

HMS Miranda (left) and Fawn (right) during the Regatta of January 1862 ("the race of the Maori war canoes")

She was commissioned at Sheerness on 30 October 1859 and until 1863 served on the Australia Station.

North America station

She refitted at Sheerness in 1863, and from 1864 to 1868 served on the North America and West Indies Station (Halifax, Nova Scotia and Bermuda). On 29 May 1866, she was driven ashore. Repairs cost £1,600. Nobody was found to be to blame for the incident.

Pacific station

After a second refit at Sheerness in 1869 she went to the Pacific Station in Esquimalt, British Columbia, where she remained until 1875.

Survey ship

In 1876 she was converted to a survey ship, and in this role she surveyed areas of the east coast of Africa, the Sea of Marmara and the Mediterranean. She was under the command of Commander William Wharton from 1 June 1876 to 1 January 1880 and then under the command of Commander Pelham Aldrich until paying off.

Fate

On 6 April 1883 she paid off, and she was sold for breaking the next year.

References

• Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.