this week we have the Rendel gunboats or flat iron gunboats as they were often known. designed by Sir George Rendel for harbor defense, coastal defense and as postulated at the time for swarming a large iron clad with many gunboats in hopes of defeating the larger vessel. these little ships{Ant Class} were all around 85ft. in length, displaced around 250t. and were powered with two 2cyl. simple expansion steam engines putting out a total of 260ihp. most of these gunboats had twin screws and shafts for greater mobility and manuverabiltiy. they were slow with a top speed of 8.5kts. their main battery was one 9" or 10" muzzle loading rifle forward on a disappearing hydraulic mount which fired over 2" thick armoured shutters. the entire ship had to be turned to aim the gun. they were not a great success in their intended purpose yet many of the world's navies had them. the British Ant class which was the largest class were built between 1870-79. our first picture is a painting of HMS Comet steaming along offshore somewhere in English waters. next we have some models these being HMS Kite and HMS Staunch. third is HMS Staunch afloat looking like she's getting ready to go somewhere. fourth is HMS Drudge a larger Rendel boat of 890t. Drudge was made for the ordnance department as a test bed for naval artillery. here Drudge is mounted with a 9.2" breech loading rifle of the late 1890's such as might have been used as secondary battery on a battleship or main battery for an armoured cruiser. and last we have a colour picture of the Norwegian Rendel gunboat Tyr which has been converted to a ferry and was still in service in 2008.
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