Three masted warship. Dotterel Class Sloop
Three masted warship. Dotterel Class Sloop
Gannet was launched from Sheerness in 1878. Shipbuilding – especially warship construction at Chatham and Sheerness influenced the development of North Kent and Medway for over 350 years. The Navy’s ships operating from the County’s Royal Dockyard’s ports and anchorages played a major role in policing the British Empire around the world and have left a historical and technological legacy that continues to today.
Gannet is both wind and coal powered, enabling her to convert easily between steam-powered with propeller, and wind-powered with sail. Gannet is a gunboat. She is the only survivor of the Imperial Policing Role, which for over a century was the dominant role of the Royal Navy featuring muzzle loading, breech loading, rifled and multiple barrelled guns.
Gannet is the only Medway built warship now returned to the River Medway. In international politics, gunboat diplomacy (or “Big Stick ideology” in U.S. history) refers to the pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of naval power—implying or constituting a direct threat of warfare, should terms not be agreeable to the superior force.
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