The Dapper-class gunboat was a class of twenty gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1854–55 for use in the Crimean War.
Design The Dapper class was designed by W.H. Walker (who also designed the preceding and the subsequent ). The ships were wooden-hulled, with steam power as well as sails, but of shallow draft for coastal bombardment in the shallow waters of the Baltic and Black Sea during the Crimean War.
Propulsion Ten ships had two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion trunk steam engines built by John Penn and Sons, with two boilers. The other ten had two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion direct-acting steam engines built by Maudslay, Sons and Field, with three boilers. Both versions provided 60 nominal horsepower through a single screw, sufficient for .
Armament Ships of the class were armed with one 68-pounder smooth bore muzzle loading cannon (SBML), one 32-pounder SBML (originally two 68-pounder SBMLs were planned but the forward gun was substituted by a 32-pounder) and two 24-pounder howitzers.
Ships NameShip builderEngine builderLaunchedFateDeptford DockyardMaudslay15 March 1855Sold to Marshall for breaking at Plymouth on 18 July 1878Deptford DockyardMaudslay15 March 1855Wrecked in Galway Bay on 8 April 1864R & H Green, Blackwall YardPenn31 March 1855Training hulk 1885, cooking depot 1897, renamed YC37 in 1909, sold to Perry 10 May 1922R & H Green, Blackwall YardPenn31 March 1855Hulked as part of the St Vincent training establishment in 1876, being used as a laundry/drying room. Sold at Portsmouth on 11 July 1905J & R White, West CowesMaudslay7 March 1855Broken up at Haslar on 15 July 1864J & R White, West CowesMaudslay2 April 1855Grounded in action at the Siege of Taganrog on 23 July 1855John Jenkins Thompson, RotherhitheMaudslay3 May 1855Broken up at Devonport in October 1872John Jenkins Thompson, RotherhitheMaudslay18 May 1855Became a cooking depot in 1868 and sold to C Wort in November 1888W & H Pitcher, NorthfleetPenn3 February 1855Completed breaking at Deptford on 11 November 1863W & H Pitcher, NorthfleetPenn1 February 1855Sold at Hong Kong on 1 December 1871W & H Pitcher, NorthfleetPenn3 February 1855Sold at Hong Kong in 1868 and then resold to the Japanese as the warship Kaku-ten-shan, then became Snap again in 1872 as a merchantmanW & H Pitcher, NorthfleetMaudslay19 March 1855Became tender to the training ship Cambridge at Devonport in 1857, sold on 2 December 1878W & H Pitcher, NorthfleetPenn19 March 1855Sold at Hong Kong on 18 November 1869W & H Pitcher, NorthfleetPenn2 April 1855Sold to Castle for breaking at Charlton on 6 June 1871W & H Pitcher, NorthfleetMaudslay2 April 1855Broken up in April 1864W & H Pitcher, NorthfleetPenn7 April 1855Broken up at Malta in October 1865W & H Pitcher, NorthfleetMaudslay7 April 1855Coal hulk in 1874, sold for breaking April 1884W & H Pitcher, NorthfleetPenn3 May 1855Gunnery tender in 1884, sold to Garnham for breaking on 10 July 1906W & H Pitcher, NorthfleetPenn5 May 1855Became a coal hulk on 21 April 1865, later renamed C16. Sold to Castle, Woolwich for breaking on 12 April 1904W & H Pitcher, NorthfleetMaudslay10 May 1855Broken up on 6 September 1864
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