HMS Opal (1875)

{{short description|British Emerald-class corvette}}

{{Other ships|HMS Opal}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

{{Infobox ship begin}} {{Infobox ship image |Ship image=HMS Opal Sydney 1880s.jpg |Ship caption=Opal in Sydney }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name= HMS Opal |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland |Ship laid down= 13 October 1873 |Ship launched= 9 March 1875 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship fate= Sold for breaking at Sheerness, August 1892 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption=Winfield (2004), p. 288 |Ship class= {{sclass|Emerald|corvette}} |Ship displacement= 2,120 tons |Ship tons burthen=1,864 bm |Ship length={{convert|220|ft|m|abbr=on}} pp |Ship beam={{convert|40|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship hold depth={{convert|21|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draught=*{{convert|16|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} forwards {{convert|18|ft|m|abbr=on}} aft |Ship depth= |Ship power=*{{convert|2187|ihp|kW|abbr=on|lk=in}} 350 nhp |Ship propulsion= 2-cylinder horizontal compound expansion steam engine 6 × cylindrical boilers Single hoisting screw |Ship sail plan=Full-rigged ship (barque from the 1880s) |Ship speed= |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship complement=232 |Ship armament= As built: 12 × 64-pounder 71-cwt rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns 2 × 64-pounder 64-cwt RML guns From 1880: 10 × 64-pounder 71-cwt RML guns 2 × 64-pounder 64-cwt RML guns |Ship armour= |Ship notes= }}

HMS Opal was an {{sclass|Emerald|corvette|1}} of the Royal Navy, laid down as Magicienne by William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland and launched on 9 March 1875.Bastock, p. 87.

She was completed with an armament of 14 muzzle-loading 64-pounder rifled guns (2 as bow and stern chasers mounted on centre-line swivelling slides, and 12 on broadside slide mountings) and initially commenced service on the Pacific Station, and while on passage in 1876 hit a rock in the Strait of Magellan. She was damaged and repairs were undertaken at Esquimalt. She returned to England in 1880 for refit, in which her broadside armament was reduced by 2 guns and she was re-rigged as a barque.

She sailed for service on the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station in 1883. En route she arrived at Limbe, Cameroon on 19 July 1884, she was carrying the British Consul for the Bights of Benin and Biafra, Edward Hyde Hewett on his mission to claim the Victoria area (the Cameroon) for Britain. He arrived and planted his flag too late, as Gustav Nachtigal had already raised the German flag at Douala a few days earlier on 14 July 1884.{{cite book |last1=Ndi |first1=Anthony |title=Southern West Cameroon Revisited Volume Two: North-South West Nexus 1858–1972 |date=2014 |publisher=Langaa RPCIG |isbn=978-9956-791-32-3 |page=100 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQUJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA100&lpg |accessdate=11 February 2019}}

She then commenced service on the Australia Station in 1885. She returned to England in 1890 and was placed into reserve. She was sold for breaking up at Sheerness in August 1892.