HMS Racer was a Royal Navy Mariner-class composite screw gunvessel, notable for its combination of traditional wooden construction and iron components. Laid down at Devonport Royal Dockyard on 9 April 1883 and launched on 6 August 1884, Racer featured a hull constructed with an iron keel, frames, stem, and stern posts, with wooden planking forming the outer hull. The vessel was armed with eight guns and was powered by a 2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine built by Hawthorn Leslie, which drove a single screw propeller. She was rigged with three masts, with square sails on the fore- and main-masts, classifying her as a barque-rigged vessel. Initially classified as a gunvessel, Racer was reclassified as a sloop in November 1884 before entering active service. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 9 April 1885 and saw service primarily in West Africa, operating in Sierra Leone in 1886 and again in 1891, as well as in the Gambia, where she participated in actions against local resistance such as Tambi and Toniataba. By 1896, she became a tender to the training ship HMS Britannia at Dartmouth, and in 1897, she was present at the Fleet Review at Spithead commemorating the Diamond Jubilee. In 1903, with the transfer of naval officer training to Osborne near Cowes, Racer became a tender to the new Royal Naval College. During 1916–17, she underwent reconstruction as a salvage vessel, receiving machinery from Torpedo Boat 8 and equipped with derricks and advanced pumps capable of removing large quantities of water. Her most notable service occurred between 1920 and 1924 when she supported the recovery of gold bars from the sunken HMS Laurentic, which had been lost in 1917. Racer’s divers retrieved 3,186 gold bars and numerous wreckage materials from the wreck site. After a long service life, HMS Racer was sold for scrap to Hughes Bolckow of Blyth on 6 November 1928. Her diverse career, spanning active service, training, and salvage operations, underscores her maritime significance during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.