aerial photograph of HMS Gannet at Chatham Historic Dockyard Chatham Kent UK. HMS Gannet was built in 1878 as a Doterel class screw sloop-of-war. She was constructed using a wooden hull over an iron frame and was one of 9 built. The vessels were armed with four 64-pound gun and two 7" muzzle-loading rifled guns . She was used for patrols, surveying and anti slave interdiction missions. She saw action in the Sudan in 1885 and finally decommissioned in 1895. Thereafter she was used as an accommodation hulk and training ship until finally finishing up as a dormitory ship, a role she served until 1968. Since then she has been fully restored and returned to how she appeared in 1888. .