| abstract | - Royalist was ordered from Devonport Dockyard and laid down on 27 April 1881. She was launched on 7 March 1883 and reclassified as a corvette in 1884 before being commissioned for the first time on 14 April 1886. She was built of an iron frame with wooden planking (hence "composite") and her class was unique in being the only wooden or composite ships of the Royal Navy to be fitted with an armoured deck. She was fitted with a horizontal compound-expansion steam engine by Maudslay, Sons and Field. This engine produced and drove a single screw. Masts and spars were provided for a barque rig. Although four of her sister ships were armed with two 6-inch and ten 5-inch breech-loading guns, Royalist, in common with Heroine and Hyacinth, received a homogenous outfit of eight BL 6-inch/100-pounder (81cwt) Mk II guns, complemented with a light gun and 4 machine guns.
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