The Medina-class gunboat was a class of 12 Royal Navy Rendel (or "flat-iron") gunboats

Flat-iron gunboat

Flat-iron gunboats were a number of classes of coastal gunboats generally characterised by small size, low freeboard and the absence of masts.Some Rendel-type gunboats were fitted with masts ; they are included in the article for...

 mounting three 6.3-inch guns, built between 1876 and 1877. Flat-iron gunboats were normally built without masts or rigging, but the Medinas carried a full barquentine rig. Their robust iron hulls meant that they lingered on as diving tenders, barges and lighters, with five of them working into the 1920s.

Design

The Medina class were a development of the Rendel (or "flat-iron") gunboat, a series of small vessels with low freeboards which mounted a small number of relatively large guns. Although the Medinas were exceptionally provided with masts to extend their range and independence, in essence they were available for similar operations to their un-masted sisters; offensive action against shore defences. Their ungainly appearance led them to be described by the naval historian Antony Preston as "the most grotesque craft ever seen". All 12 vessels of the class were built at Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, often referred to simply as Palmers, was a British shipbuilding company. The Company was based in Jarrow, in Northeast England and also had operations in Hebburn and Willington Quay on the River Tyne....

 in Jarrow

Jarrow

Jarrow is a town in Tyne and Wear, England, located on the River Tyne, with a population of 27,526. From the middle of the 19th century until 1935, Jarrow was a centre for shipbuilding, and was the starting point of the Jarrow March against unemployment in 1936.-Foundation:The Angles re-occupied...

 and were named after rivers. They were constructed entirely of iron and were fitted with an unusual bow rudder.

Armament

As built, ships of the class mounted three 6.3-inch (160-mm) 64-pdr 64-cwt muzzle-loading rifles

RML 64 pounder 64 cwt gun

The RML 64 pounder 64 cwt gun was a Rifled, Muzzle Loading naval, field or fortification artillery gun manufactured in England in the 19th century, which fired a projectile weighing approximately...

. By 1892 Trent had been fitted with a pair of 4.7-inch quick-firing guns.

Propulsion

All the ships of the class were fitted with a pair of R and W Hawthorn

R and W Hawthorn

R and W Hawthorn Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer in Newcastle upon Tyne, England from 1817 until 1880.-Locomotive building:Robert Hawthorne first began business at Forth Bank Works in 1817, building marine and stationary steam engines. In 1820, his brother joined him and the firm became R and W...

 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engines of 60 nominal horsepower. They developed 310 ihp, giving a speed of about 9+1/2 kn.

Sail plan

All ships of the class were built with three masts and a barquentine

Barquentine

A barquentine is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts.-Modern barquentine sailing rig:...

 rig of sails. Surviving members of the class had their sailing rig replaced by a pair of pole masts in the 1890s.

Operational lives

Some of the ships of the class were appointed as tenders to battleships as soon as they were built: Medina tender to and Medway to , the gunnery school at Portsmouth. Spey was fitted in 1900 with three 4.7-inch guns for service at the gunnery school.

Dee and Don served in the Mediterranean in 1886 as part of an International squadron dominated by the Royal Navy. They both remained at Malta in various capacities for the rest of their lives. Tay had her armament reduced to a single 9-pounder gun and by 1914 was a tender to , the Royal Navy barracks at Devonport. Esk and Tweed both served in Hong Kong in the 1890s, being sold there in the 1900s.

In all cases the crews were not expected to live onboard their cramped ships when not at sea, with living space provided in accommodation hulks or the battleships to which the gunboats were tenders.

Ships

Name	Ship Builder	Launched	Fate
	Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company, Jarrow Jarrow Jarrow is a town in Tyne and Wear, England, located on the River Tyne, with a population of 27,526. From the middle of the 19th century until 1935, Jarrow was a centre for shipbuilding, and was the starting point of the Jarrow March against unemployment in 1936.-Foundation:The Angles re-occupied...	3 August 1876	Sold at Bermuda Bermuda Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...  in 1904
	Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company, Jarrow	3 October 1876	Sold at Bermuda in 1904
	Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company, Jarrow	3 October 1876	Renamed Sabine as a diving tender in 1916, renamed Vivid in 1920 (or late 1919), sold to B Fryer, Sunderland in July 1922
	Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company, Jarrow	5 October 1876	Deleted c.1915 and sold in 1923
	Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company, Jarrow	19 October 1876	Sold to Stanlee Shipbreaking Company, Dover Dover Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...  22 October 1920
	Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company, Jarrow	19 October 1876	Sold to Harris Brothers, Bristol Bristol Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...  9 July 1907
	Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company, Jarrow	4 April 1877	Used for torpedo instruction 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...  1892-1902 and sold there on 10 July 1902
	Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company, Jarrow	14 April 1877	Used as a concrete barge at Malta 1906-08, converted to a lighter in 1911 and sold there in 1914
	Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company, Jarrow	28 April 1877	Sold at Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour... in April 1903
	Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company, Jarrow	28 April 1877	Diving tender in 1906, sold to Ward, Grays 30 August 1919, and arrived there 10 October 1919, but listed until 1921 and finally moved to Rainham, Kent to be broken up on 3 January 1923
	Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company, Jarrow	23 August 1877	Renamed Pembroke in September 1905, then Gannet in June 1917 as a diving tender. Sold to the Dover Shipbreaking Company on 21 February 1923
	Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company, Jarrow	23 August 1877	Sold at Hong Kong on 21 November 1905