HMS Buzzard (1887)

HMS Buzzard at Blackfriars on the Thames in 1906
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Buzzard
Builder	Sheerness Dockyard
Cost	Hull: £42,500 Machinery: £16,200[1]
Laid down	1 May 1886[1]
Launched	10 May 1887[2]
Commissioned	14 April 1888[1]
Fate	Sold for scrap on 6 September 1921
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Nymphe-class sloop
Tonnage	584 tons[2]
Displacement	1,140 tons
Length	195 ft 0 in (59.4 m) pp
Beam	28 ft 0 in (8.5 m)
Draught	12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Installed power	2,000 ihp (1,500 kW)
Propulsion	Horizontal triple-expansion steam engine Twin screw
Sail plan	Barquentine rigged
Speed	14.5 kn (26.9 km/h)
Range	3,000 nmi (5,600 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement	135
Armament	8 × BL 5-inch (127.0 mm) guns[1][3] 4 × 1 inch Nordenfeldt machine guns 4 × .45 inch Gardner machine guns

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HMS Buzzard was a Nymphe-class composite screw sloop and the fourth ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name.

Developed and constructed for the Royal Navy on a design by William Henry White, Director of Naval Construction,^[2] she was launched at Sheerness Dockyard on 10 May 1887.

The Nymphe-class sloops were ideal for service in the far distant outposts of the British Empire, and Buzzard was employed on the North America and West Indies Station. In early April 1902, under the command of Commander Leicester Francis Gartside Tippinge (1855–1938), she left Bermuda for home waters, calling at Faial Island,^[4] before she arrived at Devonport on 20 April.^[5] She was paid off at Chatham on 13 May 1902.^[6]

In 1904 she was converted to a drill ship for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve at Blackfriars, London, and in 1911 Buzzard relieved HMS President (formerly HMS Gannet of 1878) as headquarters ship, being renamed HMS President on 1 April 1911.

As President she served until 23 January 1918, when she was lent to the Marine Society. She was sold to C A Beard for breaking on 6 September 1921, and was later re-sold to Dutch ship breakers.^[1]

• Preston, Antony; Major, John (2007). Send a Gunboat: The Victorian Navy and Supremacy at Sea, 1854–1904 (2nd ed.). London: Conway. ISBN 978-0-85177-923-2.
• Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.
• Battleships-cruisers.co.uk: Royal Navy Sloops
• Port Cities: London