The Arrow class comprised six second-class screw-driven vessels built as dispatch vessels for the Royal Navy in 1854, mounting six guns. In 1856 they were re-designated as second-class gunvessels. A seventh vessel was built for the Argentine Navy in 1875.
The Crimean War sparked a sudden need for shallow-draught, manoeuvrable vessels for inshore work in the Baltic and the Black Sea. The Arrow class of six wooden-hulled screw steamers were built during 1854 to a design by the Surveyor's Department. Construction was undertaken at two commercial yards on the Thames, R & H Green at Blackwall Yard and C J Mare & Company, at Leamouth. Two further designs of Crimean War gunvessel were ordered during 1855, the and the, and in 1856 the six Arrow-class dispatch vessels were re-classed as second-class gunvessels.
A two-cylinder horizontal single expansion steam engine provided 160hp through a single screw.
All Arrow-class gunvessels were barque-rigged.
The Arrow class were provided with two 68-pounder Lancaster muzzle-loading rifles weighing 95long cwt on pivot mounts, and four 32-pounder 25long cwt guns.
| Name | Ship builder | Launched | Fate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C J Mare & Company, Leamouth | 26 June 1854 | Hull sold to Marshall on 19 May 1862 | |||
| C J Mare & Company, Leamouth | 20 July 1854 | Sold at Hong Kong on 16 July 1863, became the Japanese Kanko. Broken up 1889 | |||
| C J Mare & Company, Leamouth | 22 July 1854 | Sold to Marshall on 19 May 1862 for breaking at Plymouth | |||
| C J Mare & Company, Leamouth | 6 September 1854 | Sold to Marshall, Plymouth in 1864 | |||
| R & H Green, Blackwall Yard | 23 July 1854 | Sold to Marshall on 19 May 1862 for breaking at Plymouth | |||
| R & H Green, Blackwall Yard | 19 June 1854 | Broken up by Castle at Charlton in May 1866 | |||
| Messrs. Rennie | 19 June 1875 | For Argentine Navy.[1] |
Wrangler was sent to the Baltic on completion, and the others of the class to the Black Sea where they took part in the Crimean War. The Lancaster guns were not entirely successful, and the class had their armament reduced, being employed in their original designation as dispatch vessels.