HMS Wild Swan (1876)
HMS Wild Swan was an Osprey-class screw composite sloop of the Royal Navy, built in Glasgow, Scotland by Robert Napier and Sons. Construction began on 14 September 1874, she was launched on 28 January 1876 and completed on 23 August 1876. The hull cost £39,643 and the machinery £11,853.
She displaced about 1,130 tons, was around 170 feet long, with a 36-foot beam and a draught of 15 ft 9 in. She carried a barque rig and was powered by a steam engine (originally 797 indicated horsepower) driving a single screw, fed by three boilers. Top speed was about 10 knots, which did not meet the contract speed; the engine was later replaced with a two-cylinder compound-expansion engine. Her range was about 1,480 nautical miles at 10 knots. The crew numbered around 140–150.
Armament originally included two 7-inch muzzle-loading rifles, four 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifles, four machine guns, and one light gun. She was later re-armed with two 6-inch BL guns, six 5-inch BL guns, four machine guns, and one light gun.
Wild Swan patrolled off Mozambique in 1880 to combat the slave trade. In early 1881 she operated with Portuguese forces, landing a Portuguese force at Conducia Bay on 12 February 1881 and supporting them with gun and rocket fire.
She was decommissioned in 1900 but refitted in 1901 as a training ship at Kingstown Harbour for Royal Navy Reserve and North of Ireland coastguards, and served as a tender to HMS Melampus. Wild Swan became a base ship on 1 May 1904 and was renamed Clyde, and later Columbine in July 1913. She was sold for scrap on 4 May 1920.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 06:32 (CET).