The Albacore class was designed by Nathaniel Barnaby, the Admiralty Director of Naval Construction. The ships were of composite construction, meaning that the iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts were of iron, while the hull was planked with timber. This had the advantage of allowing the vessels to be coppered, thus keeping marine growth under control, a problem that caused iron-hulled ships to be frequently docked. They were 135 feet (41 m) in length and displaced 560 tons.[1] They were a slightly larger version of the Forester and Banterer classes that preceded them. They pioneered the use of modern breech-loading guns as the main armament, but were the last gunboats to mount their weapons on traversing mountings.[1]
Propulsion
Two-cylinder compound-expansion steam engines built by the builder, Laird Brothers of Birkenhead, provided 650 indicated horsepower through a single screw, sufficient for 10.7 knots (19.8 km/h; 12.3 mph).[1]
Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC52620555.