HMS Nymphe was an Amazon-class

Amazon class sloop

The Amazon class was a class of six screw sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1865 and 1866.-Design:Designed by Edward Reed, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction, they were equipped with a ram bow...

 sloop

Sloop-of-war

In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...

, of 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...

, built at the Deptford Dockyard and launched on 24 November 1866. She served in the East Indies and Australia, and was sold in 1884.

Design

Designed by Edward Reed

Edward James Reed

Sir Edward James Reed , KCB, FRS, was a British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870...

, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction

Director of Naval Construction

The Director of Naval Construction was a senior British civil servant post in the Admiralty, that part of the British Civil Service that oversaw the Royal Navy. The post existed from 1860 to 1966....

, the hull was built of oak, with teak planking and fir decks, and she was equipped with a ram bow.

Propulsion

Propulsion was provided by a three-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine by Maudslay, Sons & Field driving a single 15 ft (4.6 m) screw.

Armament

The class was designed with two 7 inches (177.8 mm), 6½-ton muzzle loading rifled guns mounted on slides on centre-line pivots, and two 64-pounder muzzle loading rifled guns on broadside trucks. Dryad, Nymphe and Vestal were rearmed in the early 1870s with an armament of nine 64-pounder muzzle loading rifled guns, four each side and a centre-line pivot mount at the bow.

History

She initially commenced service on the East Indies Station

East Indies Station

The East Indies Station was a formation of the British Royal Navy from 1865 to 1941.From 1831 to 1865 the East Indies and the China Station were a single command known as the East Indies and China Station...

 in 1867, before returning to England in 1871 for paying off. Nymphe was refitted, re-armed and placed in reserve. She started service on the Australia Station

Australia Station

The Australia Station was the British—and later Australian—naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent.-History:In the early years following the establishment of the colony of New South Wales, ships based in Australian waters came under the control of the East Indies...

in March 1875. She left the Australia Station in August 1878, returned to England and was paid off in 1879.