| Fly-class gunboat | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Class overview | |
| Name: | Fly class |
| Builders: | Yarrow Shipbuilders |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy (1915-1918)British Army (1918-1924) |
| In service: | 1915-1924 |
| Completed: | 16 |
| Lost: | 3 |
| Retired: | 13 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | River gunboat |
| Displacement: | 98 long tons (100 t) |
| Length: | 126 ft (38 m) |
| Beam: | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
| Draught: | 2 ft (0.61 m) |
| Propulsion: | 175 IHP |
| Speed: | 9.5 knots (10.9 mph; 17.6 km/h) |
| Complement: | 22 |
| Armament: |
|
The Fly-class river gunboats (or small China gunboats[Note 1]), collectively often referred to as the "Tigris gunboat flotilla", were a class of small but well-armed Royal Navy vessels designed specifically to patrol the Tigris river during the World War I Mesopotamian Campaign.
Design[]
They were fitted with one triple expansion steam engine driving one propeller housed in a tunnel to facilitate a very shallow draught.
Deployment[]
The vessels were built at Scotstoun, Glasgow in 1915 and 1916 and shipped out to Abadan in sections where they were assembled.
Firefly was captured by the Ottomans but recaptured at the Battle of Nahr-al-Kalek in February 1917. They served with the Royal Navy patrolling the Tigris River until being transferred to the Army during 1918. They were sold off beginning 1923.
The vessels[]
These vessels had the prefix "HM Gunboat"
- Blackfly
- Butterfly
- Caddisfly
- Cranefly
- Dragonfly
- Firefly
- Gadfly
- Grayfly
- Greenfly
- Hoverfly
- Mayfly
- Sawfly
- Sedgefly
- Snakefly
- Stonefly
- Waterfly
See also[]
- Mesopotamian campaign
- Tigris River
Notes[]
- ↑ the Insect-class gunboats were "large China gunboats".
References[]
Further reading[]
- Wilfred Nunn, "Tigris gunboats : the forgotten war in Iraq 1914-1917", 1932. Reprinted 2007 by Chatham. ISBN 978-1-86176-308-2
External links[]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fly class gunboat. |
- British Forces in Mesopotamia not including Kut Al Amara 3 January 1916
- "The Tigris Flotilla", at Great War Primary Document Archive
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The original article can be found at Fly-class gunboat and the edit history here.