Amethyst-class corvette

The Amethyst-class corvettes were a class of the last wooden warships to be built for the British Royal Navy; each was built at a Royal Dockyard. Three were ordered under the 1871–72 Programme and two under the 1872–73 Programme. Built in the early and middle 1870s, they mostly served overseas and were retired early as they were regarded as hopelessly obsolete by the late 1880s. The lead ship of the class, HMS Amethyst, served alongside HMS Shah in the action against the Peruvian warship Huáscar on 29th May 1877.