This gunboat with it’s distinctive leeboards and heavy pivot mount canon adds a Dutch flair to your tabletop age of sail games. We offer this in two scales, a 6MM version which is all SLA with wood and wire masts, and a 15-20MM scale version with a FDM hull, SLA bits, and wood masts.

This kit comes in two versions… For later era games the Long guns and carronades versions would be ideal and you can mix in the other version for variety. For earlier era games, we offer a Long Guns and cannons version (no carronades).

Historic ship type: Dutch Navy gaff/sloop rigged gunboat modeled after Gunboat 2 which blew up and sank February 5, 1831 but is more generally intended to represent any number of period gunboats.

Design background and construction details: A gunboat is generally a small ship fitted with a single or a few large guns. The gunboat could be built quickly and due to shallow draft operate near shore to support ground forces or in a defensive capacity. They could also serve as coastal/harbor defensive vessels and be used to interdict smugglers. This gunboat is based on traditional Dutch shallow draft designs. Literally thousands of craft of this general size and shape were built for the Dutch inland/coastal cargo trade. When designing gunboats, the wide beam, relatively low freeboard and sturdy construction also made them perfectly suitable to carry large guns on deck. The Dutch navy used gunboats like this for hundreds of years with only minor changes.

Dutch gunboats such as this were quite heavily armed for their size with a 30 pound forward facing gun and two slight lighter aft facing guns. The aft guns were set up to be switchable from stern chasers to the sides. In addition, she was also fitted with mounts for 4 swivel guns. As configured in the 1800’s she likely could not manage any additional gun weight thus the switchable guns. Prior to the creation of carronades, these ships carried lighter guns thus could use all ports.

The Dutch trade ships these designs were based on were fitted with a simple sloop rig consisting of a gaff sloop main sail and a few jibs. For naval service, they were upgraded with a more complex rig that allowed her to carry more sail and react to conditions and enemy movement better. This gunboat is flat bottomed with a very shallow draft and the signature Dutch leeboards on each side, which, when lowered, provide the side force that keeps her from being set sideways when sailing to windward. While the hull is not very sleek, this tried and true design and sailed well. In civilian trade, this general design was still in use up to the early 1900’s!

This ship carried long sweeps (oars) and in becalmed conditions could still maneuver. While she had little space on deck for one she probably towed a launch that could be used to board other vessels during inspections.