Although half had been sold by 1890, the rest survived into the 20th century as coal hulks, base vessels and other secondary uses.

Foxhound survived as a hulk on the Blackwall Reach of the Thames until 1975, when she was broken up.

Designed by Nathaniel Barnaby, Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy, the Forester-class gunboats were similar in every respect to the preceding Ariel-class gunboats.

[2] They were fitted with a 2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine, although Moorhen and Sheldrake received a single-expansion direct-acting steam engine.

All the ships of the class carried a three-masted barquentine rig.