The Camelion class was a class of screw-driven sloops of wood construction, designed by Isaac Watts and operated by the Royal Navy. Eight ships of the class were built from 1858 to 1866 with another eight cancelled. They were initially rated as second-class sloops, but were later reclassified as corvettes.

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (February 2013)

Quick Facts Class overview, General characteristics ...

HMS Rinaldo
Class overview
Name	Camelion class
Operators	Royal Navy  Portuguese Navy
Built	1860–1866
Planned	16
Completed	8
Cancelled	8
General characteristics
Displacement	1,365 tons
Length	185 ft (56 m)
Beam	33 ft (10 m)
Draught	14 ft 8 in (4.47 m)
Installed power	200 hp (150 kW)
Propulsion	2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine[Note 1] Single screw
Sail plan	Barque-rigged
Speed	9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph)
Complement	180
Armament	5 × 40-pounder breech-loading guns 12 × 32-pounder muzzle-loading guns[Note 2]

Close

The class was designed by Issac Watts as second-class sloops of 17 guns, and were a lengthened version of the Cruizer class.^[1]

The first two vessels were ordered on 3 April 1854, although neither was laid down for several years. Another three were ordered on 1 April 1857 and a further three on 27 March 1858. The final eight ships were ordered in two batches on 5 March 1860 and 25 March 1861, but were either cancelled, or in the case of Circassian and Trent, completed as ironclad sloops under new names.