Fly-class gunboat

The Fly-class river gunboats (or small China gunboats), collectively often referred to as the "Tigris gunboat flotilla", were a class of small well-armed Royal Navy vessels designed to patrol the Tigris river during the Mesopotamian Campaign during the First World War (the China name was to disguise their function).[lower-alpha 1]

Class overview
NameFly class
BuildersYarrow Shipbuilders
Operators
In service1915–1924
Completed16
Lost3
Retired13
General characteristics
TypeRiver gunboat[1]
Displacement98 long tons (100 t)
Length126 ft (38 m)
Beam20 ft (6.1 m)
Draught2 ft (0.61 m)
Propulsion1 shaft VTE, single yarrow type mixed firing boiler, 175 ihp (130 kW)
Speed9.5 kn (10.9 mph; 17.6 km/h)
Complement22
Armament

Design

They were fitted with one triple expansion steam engine driving one propeller housed in a tunnel to facilitate a very shallow [2 ft (61 cm)] draught. The boats were designed to be dismantled and re-assembled.

Deployment

The vessels were built by Yarrow Shipbuilders at Scotstoun, Glasgow in 1915 and 1916 and shipped to Abadan in sections where they were assembled. They served with the Royal Navy patrolling the Tigris River until being transferred to the Army during 1918. They were sold off beginning 1923.

The Ottomans captured Firefly in December 1915 after she grounded and a shell through her boiler disabled her; her crew was evacuated. The Ottomans took her into service as Suleiman Pak. HMS Tarantula recaptured her at the Battle of Nahr-al-Kalek on 26 February 1917.[2]

Vessels

Vessels with the prefix "HM Gunboat"

  • Blackfly
  • Butterfly
  • Caddisfly
  • Cranefly
  • Dragonfly
  • Firefly
  • Gadfly
  • Grayfly
  • Greenfly
  • Hoverfly
  • Mayfly
  • Sawfly
  • Sedgefly
  • Snakefly
  • Stonefly
  • Waterfly

See also

Notes
  1. The Insect-class gunboats were "large China gunboats".

Citations
  1. Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 405.
  2. Perrett 2000, pp. 150–151, 155.

References
  • Atherton, D. (2003). "Question 25/01". Warship International. XL (2): 138–141. ISSN 0043-0374.
  • Atherton, D.; Caruana, J. (2002). "Question 25/01". Warship International. XXXIX (2): 133–135. ISSN 0043-0374.
  • Atherton, D. (2004). "Question 25/01: British Fly Class Gunboats". Warship International. XLI (2): 135–139. ISSN 0043-0374.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-907-3 – via Archive Foundation.
  • Nunn, Wilfred (2007) [1932]. Tigris Gunboats: The Forgotten War in Iraq 1914–1917. Chatham. ISBN 978-1-86176-308-2.
  • Perrett, Bryan (2000). Gunboats: Small Ships at War (1st ed.). London: Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-35302-6.
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