Paddle spardeck corvette (1st class, 320 nhp)

CUVIER (launched 1842)


CUVIER paddle spardeck corvette (1st class)

Displacement:	1656t
Dimensions:	196ft 10in wl and deck x 35ft 4in mld, 36ft 1in ext x 14ft 11in mean, 15ft 7in max. Depth 13ft 9in
Same, meters:	60.00 x 10.76, 11.00 x 4.55, 4.75m. 4.20m
Machinery:	320nhp (Miller and Ravenhill). Direct, trials 8kts sustained.
Hull material:	Wood
Armament:	(1843) GD 8-30p No.2; SD 4-22cm shell. (1845) SD 4-22cm shell sides, 2-30p ends (GD empty)
Complement:

Name	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commiss.	Fate
CUVIER	Lorient	20.1.41	5.9.42	1.1.43	Lost 25.1.48

Class. Plans by Boucher were approved in 12.40 for a ship to receive the 320nhp engines ordered in England for the frigate Infernal (q.v.). The new ship was given the same beam as Infernal, but was shorter and had finer lines. The beam over her paddles was 56ft 10in. Her engines were not built on time, and when the navy threatened to cancel the contract the builder agreed in 12.41 to substitute direct-acting engines for the traditional side-lever engines originally specified. In these engines the connecting rod from the cylinder was connected directly to the paddle shaft--an elementary form of direct action which became popular in small ships but was not repeated in the navy's larger steamers.

Disposal. Cuvier burned off Mahon, Majorca following the spontaneous combustion of the coal in her bunkers.