The original 1874 design by the Chief Constructor, William Henry White was revised in 1877 by Sir Nathaniel Barnaby and nine were ordered.

[citation needed] The primary purpose of ships of the Gannet's class was to maintain British naval dominance through trade protection, anti-slavery, and long term surveying.

[2] She sailed from Portsmouth, across the Atlantic and via Cape Horn to the port of Panama City on the Pacific coast of Central America.

On 17 September she engaged anti-Anglo-Egyptian forces led by Osman Digna for nearly a month, firing 200 main armament shells and nearly 1,200 Nordenfelt rounds.

[2] After four months out of commission, in December 1895, Gannet was transferred to harbour service in Chatham where she remained until 1900, when she was placed on the list of non-effective vessels.

Renamed HMS President, she took up her new duties as the headquarters ship of the London Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in the South West India Docks in June 1903.

In 1987 the Chatham Historic Dockyard chartered Gannet from the Maritime Trust and started a restoration programme to return the ship to its 1888 appearance — the only time she saw naval combat.