Meanwhile, a lot schooners, schoonerbrigs and small paddle steamers in the Dutch East Indies were expected to become unfit in a few years.

For service in home waters they would not have to be loaded so heavily, and would therefore have a shallower draught required for coastal and river defense.

Shortly after the approval of 27 February 1858 the navy decided to lengthen the ship by resolution of 26 April 1858.

The designers therefore thought it feasible to build ships with the same battery as the Vesuvius-class sloops, but with less draught, and much smaller.

[6] The Hector and Vulkaan drew a lot of criticism in the 1862 investigation of the navy by the Dutch house of representatives.

Turk, chief engineer of naval construction, said: 'Only the Hector and Vulkaan are less suitable, because too many demands had been made.'

de Haes considered the small vessels that had been built recently to be 'a failed experiment'.

[7] After the Hector class the Dutch navy hastily returned to using low-pressure steam engines in ships meant for the East Indies.