HMS Melita (1888)

	Watercolour, 1896, by Gaetano Esposito
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Melita
Namesake	Malta (Latin)
Builder	Malta Dockyard
Cost	£60,179
Laid down	18 July 1883
Launched	20 March 1888
Commissioned	27 October 1892
Renamed	Ringdove in December 1915
Reclassified	salvage vessel 1915
Fate	Sold on 9 July 1920 to the Falmouth Docks Company
United Kingdom
Name	1920: Ringdove’s Aid; 1927: Restorer;
Operator	1920: Falmouth Docks Company; 1921: Falmouth Docks & Engineering Company Ltd ; 1927(?): Liverpool & Glasgow Salvage Association;
Identification	Official Number: 137212 (from 1921)
Fate	Broken up in the second quarter of 1937
General characteristics
Class & type	Mariner-class composite screw sloop
Tonnage	554 GRT, 214 NRT (from 1921)
Displacement	970 tons
Length	167 ft (51 m)
Beam	32 ft (9.8 m)
Draught	14 ft (4.3 m)
Installed power	850 ihp (630 kW)
Propulsion	2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine; Single screw;
Sail plan	Barque-rigged
Speed	11+1⁄2 knots (21.3 km/h)
Range	Approximately 2,100 nmi (3,900 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement	126
Armament	8 × 5-inch 40cwt breech-loading guns; 1 × light gun; 8 × machine guns;

HMS Melita was a Royal Navy Mariner-class composite screw sloop of 8 guns, launched in 1888 and commissioned in 1892. She was the only significant Royal Navy warship ever to be built in Malta Dockyard, She was renamed HMS Ringdove in 1915 as a salvage vessel and in 1920 was sold to the Falmouth Docks Company, which changed her name to Ringdove's Aid. She was sold again in 1926 to the Liverpool & Glasgow Salvage Association, renamed Restorer, and finally broken up in 1937, 54 years after her keel was laid.