The Ister-class frigates were a group of five 36-gun screw frigate

Screw frigate

Steam frigates and the smaller steam corvettes were steam-powered warships.The first vessel that can be considered a steam frigate was the Demologos which was launched in 1815 for the United States Navy....

s built for 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...

 in the early 1860s. Four of the ships were cancelled after they were laid down

Keel

In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...

 and was the only ship completed.

Description

Endymion was 240 feet (73.2 m) long, with a beam of 48 feet (14.6 m), and a draught of 18 in 8 in (5.69 m). She was assessed as 2,486 tons Builder's Old Measurement

Builder's Old Measurement

Builder's Old Measurement is the method of calculating the size or cargo capacity of a ship used in England from approximately 1720 to 1849. It estimated the tonnage of a ship based on length and maximum beam...

 and displaced 3,200 tons. She was fitted with 36 guns and had a complement of 450. Propulsion was by a 500 nhp steam engine, which was built by Napier & Son

Napier & Son

D. Napier & Son Limited was a British engine and pre-Great War automobile manufacturer and one of the most important aircraft engine manufacturers in the early to mid-20th century...

s, Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. The engine drove a single screw propeller of 18 feet (5.49 m) diameter and 21 feet (6.4 m) pitch. The propeller was 3 in 6 in (1.07 m) long, and the tips of the blades were 7 in 6 in (2.29 m) beneath the surface of the water.

She was designed to take 36 guns, which were intended to comprise four 100 pounder, rifled muzzle-loading guns (weight 125 Cwt

Hundredweight

The hundredweight or centum weight is a unit of mass defined in terms of the pound . The definition used in Britain differs from that used in North America. The two are distinguished by the terms long hundredweight and short hundredweight:* The long hundredweight is defined as 112 lb, which...

/6,350 kg each), fourteen 8-inch guns (65 Cwt/3,302 kg each), located on the maindeck; and nine 110-pounder breech-loading guns (82 Cwt/6,166 kg each) located on the upper deck. In August, it was reported that Endymion was then being fitted with three 110-pounder Armstrong

Armstrong Whitworth

Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. Headquartered in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth engaged in the construction of armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles, and aircraft.-History:In 1847,...

 guns, four 100-pounder Somerset guns

Somerset cannon

The Somerset cannon was a British cannon designed within the Admiralty and manufactured by Armstrong's.Its genesis was the unexpected failure of the Armstrong breech-loading rifles recently developed and installed on Royal Navy ships. The Somerset was a 6.5 ton 9.2-inch calibre smoothbore...

 and fourteen 8-inch guns.

Service

Name	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Completed	Fate
HMS Astraea	Devonport Dockyard 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...	21 October 1861	N/A	N/A	Cancelled 12 December 1863
HMS Blonde	Woolwich Dockyard 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....	10 September 1860	N/A	N/A	Cancelled 12 December 1863
HMS Dartmouth	Woolwich Dockyard	6 November 1860	N/A	N/A	Cancelled 16 December 1864
HMS Endymion	Deptford Dockyard	20 October 1860	18 November 1865	September 1866	Sold 1885, scrapped Ship breaking Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...  1905
HMS Ister	Devonport Dockyard	8 November 1860	N/A	N/A	Cancelled 16 December 1864

All five of the ships in the class were laid down in 1860–61 in various royal dockyards, but HMS Blonde and HMS Astrea were cancelled on 12 December 1863. HMS Dartmouth and HMS Ister were cancelled a year later, on 16 December 1864. None of these four ships were launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 before they were cancelled.

On 1 February 1862, construction of Endymion was suspended on the orders of the Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

, although the Admiralty later decided that she would be completed. Construction restarted on 7 February 1864. Endymion was the last wooden frigate built at Deptford Dockyard. She was commissioned in 1866 and spent much of her service based at Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

. In 1869–70 she sailed around the world as part of a Flying Squadron. Endymion then served as a guard ship at Hull

Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

 until 1879 and was lent to the Metropolitan Asylums Board in 1881 for use as an administration and hospital ship

Hospital ship

A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital; most are operated by the military forces of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones....

. She was sold out of service in 1885, and served as an administration ship until 1904. Endymion was sold in December 1904 and broken up in 1905.