The Briton class was a group of three wooden screw corvettes built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s.

The Briton-class corvettes were designed by Sir Edward Reed, the Director of Naval Construction, as lengthened versions of the Eclipse-class sloops.

[1] Like the smaller ships, they had a ram-style bow to reduce weight forward by elimination of the knee above the stem.

HMS Druid, the first ship completed, had a two-cylinder horizontal steam engine driving a single 15-foot (4.6 m) propeller.

The engine produced a total of 2,272 indicated horsepower (1,694 kW) which gave her a maximum speed of about 13.066 knots (24.198 km/h; 15.036 mph) during sea trials.

[1] In contrast, the two later ships had a two-cylinder horizontal compound expansion steam engine, driving a single 15-foot or 14-foot-9-inch (4.50 m) propeller.

Ballard attributed their poor performance under sail to the drag of the propeller, which could neither be hoisted out of the water, nor feathered.

He also attributed their sluggish steering under sail to interference with the flow of water to the rudder by the fixed propeller.

The ship was refitted and rearmed upon her return home and Briton remained in reserve until recommissioned in 1881 for service on the Cape Station.