The Greyhound class was a development of the , and comprised two 17-gun wooden screw sloop

Sloop

A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

s. They were both launched in 1859 and saw service with the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 until 1870. The class was reclassified as corvettes in 1862.

Design

The Greyhound class were a lengthened version of the wooden sloops of the Cruizer class, with an uprated steam engine. The combination of greater length (allowing greater hydrodynamic efficiency) and more power gave an increase in top speed from 6 knots in the Cruizers to 10 knots in the Greyhounds.

Propulsion

Their two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engines generated an indicated horsepower of between 743 ihp and 786 ihp; driving a single screw, this gave a maximum speed of between 9.7 knots (19 km/h) and 10.2 knots (20 km/h).

Armament

Both ships of the class were provided with five 40-pounder breech-loading guns and twelve 32-pounder muzzle-loading smoothbore carriage guns in a broadside arrangement.

Ships

Name	Ship Builder	|Launched	|Fate
	Pembroke Royal Dockyard	15 June 1859	Reduced to harbour service in September 1869 and used as a breakwater at Devonport. Sold on 3 April 1906
	Deptford Royal Dockyard	30 July 1859	Originally ordered as the seventh vessel of the Cruizer class. Sold on 26 February 1870 for commercial use. Renamed Chieftain.

HMS Greyhound

Greyhound was commissioned at Plymouth

HMNB Devonport

Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...

 on 6 February 1860 and served in the Mediterranean until 1861. From 1861 to 1864 she was sent to the North America and West Indies Station, and during her commission from 1865 to 1869 she served on the west coat of Africa and the south-east coast of South America. She was reduced to harbour service in 1869, and in 1871 and 1872 she conducted hydrodynamic experiments to support the work of William Froude

William Froude

William Froude was an English engineer, hydrodynamicist and naval architect. He was the first to formulate reliable laws for the resistance that water offers to ships and for predicting their stability....

. By 1879 she was being used as a breakwater at Devonport, and she was eventually sold on 3 April 1906.

HMS Mutine

Mutine was commissioned at Woolwich

Woolwich Dockyard

Woolwich Dockyard was an English naval dockyard founded by King Henry VIII in 1512 to build his flagship Henri Grâce à Dieu , the largest ship of its day....

 on 26 November 1859 and, apart from a refit at Woolwich in 1864 - 1865, served her entire career on the Pacific Station

Pacific Station

The Pacific Station, often referred to as the Pacific Squadron, was one of the geographical divisions into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities...

. She paid off at Sheerness on 30 March 1869 and was sold on 26 February 1870 for commercial use. She was renamed Chieftain by her new owners.