HMS Iris (1877)

HMS Iris was an Iris-class second-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. The Iris class ships were the first all-steel ships to serve with the Royal Navy and were employed as armed dispatch vessels. She had a double bottom and her Maudslay machinery produced 7300 hp, slightly less than her sister ship HMS Mercury, but her 17.35 kn still made her one of the fastest ships of her day. Mercury was identical in most respects, though she had an upright stem and a different arrangement of head sail.

She was laid down at the Pembroke Dockyard on 10 November 1875, launched on 12 April 1877 and completed on 18 April 1879. She was commissioned on 27 April 1880 and her first commander was Captain Edward Seymour, with Lieutenant Robert Archer as First Lieutenant. She served in the Mediterranean from 1879 to 1887, then in the Portsmouth Reserve from 1887 to 1903. She was a tender to HMS St. Vincent in 1903 and 1904 and was sold off in 1905.