HMS Miranda (1851)

HMS Miranda was a 14-gun (15-gun from 1856) wooden screw sloop of the Royal Navy. As part of the 1847 Program, she was designed by John Fincham, Master Shipwright of Portsmouth ,and is considered an improved Rattler, with the design approved on 3 November 1847. She was ordered on 25 April 1847 with the name Grinder from Royal Dockyard, Sheerness. On 3 November 1847, she was reordered as Miranda from Sheerness Dockyard. Launched in 1851, she was completed to see action in the Crimean War. In 1854 she was in the White Sea and participated in the bombardment of the Port of Kola. She then served in the Sea of Azov during 1855. Two of her crew were awarded the Victoria Cross for their bravery. Towards the end of her career she transported troops during the New Zealand Wars. She was reclassified as a corvette by 1862. She was sold for breaking in December 1869.

Grinder would have been the second vessel of that name; it was born by a tender of unknown origin which was sold on 22 August 1832.

Miranda was the first vessel of that name in the Royal Navy.

Construction and specifications
Miranda's keel was laid in September 1848 at Royal Dockyard, Sheerness; she was launched on 18 March 1851. Her gundeck was 196 ft with her keel length reported for tonnage calculation of 169 feet 169 ft. Her breadth reported for tonnage was 34 ft. She had a depth of hold of 20 ft. Her builder’s measure tonnage was 1,039 tons (as built 1,062) and displaced 1,350 tons.

Her machinery was supplied by Robert Napier & Sons of Govan. She shipped two rectangular fire tube boilers. Her engine was a 2-cylinder horizontal single expansion (HSE) geared steam engine with cylinders of 56.375 in in diameter with a 36.75 in stroke, rated at 250 hp. She had a single screw propeller driven through gearing. Her machinery was installed at Robert Napier and Sons shipyard in Glasgow at a cost of £14,235 during 1852. The pictorial record shows Miranda with a full ship rig in 1862, which makes it likely that she carried this rig for her entire life.

Her initial armament consisted of fourteen Monk's ‘C’ 1839 32-pounder 42 hundredweight (cwt) muzzle-loading smoothbore (MLSB) 8.5-foot solid-shot guns on broadside trucks. In 1856 she was rearmed with a single 68-pounder MLSB of 87 cwt 10-foot solid-shot gun on a pivot mount and ten Monk's ‘C’ 1839 32-pounder 42 cwt MLSB solid-shot guns plus four Armstrong 20-pounder breech-loading (BL) of 16 cwt on broadside trucks.

Trials
During trials, Miranda's engine generated 613 ihp for a speed of 10.75 kn.

Miranda was completed for sea on 9 March 1854 at a cost of £48,393 (including hull of £24,232 and machinery of £14,235 and fitting £9,926).

First commission
She commissioned at Sheerness on 25 February 1854 under the command of Captain Edmund M. Lyons RN, for service in the Baltic Sea during the Crimean War. She did not sail for the Baltic; instead she joined Captain Erasmus Ommanney's Squadron for service in the White Sea. The squadron, consisting of Eurydice, Miranda, Brisk, and two French ships, scoured the White Sea for Russian ships. Not finding any Russian ships, the Squadron destroyed the port of Kola on 24 August before withdrawing before the onset of winter. Her crew received the Baltic medal even though she did not serve in the Baltic. She returned to Portsmouth in September 1854.

In 1855, she deployed to the Black Sea for operations in the Sea of Azov. On 3 June 1855, during the Siege of Taganrog, Boatswain Henry Cooper and Lieutenant Cecil William Buckley of Miranda landed destroying equipment and set fire to government buildings, despite the town being under bombardment and garrisoned by 3,000 Russian troops. For this action the pair were awarded the Victoria Cross. Captain Edmund Moubray Lyons of Miranda reported on 29 May 1855 that in the first four days of the squadron entering the Sea of Azov, the enemy had lost four steamers of war and 246 merchant vessels, together with corn and flour magazines to the value of at least £150,000. During the Kerch operations on 17 June, Captain Lyons was mortally wounded, dying on the 23rd. Captain Robert Hall took command on the 24th as the Senior Officer in the Strait of Kerch. Upon the cessation of hostilities, Miranda returned to home waters, paying off at Sheerness on 21 April 1857.

Second commission
Miranda recommissioned at Sheerness on 4 October 1860 under the command of Commander Henry C. Glyn RN, for the Australia Station. During the early 1860s she took part in the New Zealand Wars; in 1863 being used to land troops at Pūkorokoro, Waikato (later renamed Miranda in her honour). On 29 August 1861, Captain Robert Jenkins assumed command. She returned to Sheerness to decommission on 3 June 1865.

Disposal
Miranda was sold for breaking to C Lewis on 2 December 1869.