The ships retained bark rig while using a four-cylinder J. and G. Rennie compound-expansion engine supplied by six boilers. Normal and forced-draught operation helps explain how the machinery could produce the class's reported power and speed. The battery combined four six-inch guns with twelve five-inch guns, giving a broadside of eight, plus Nordenfelt guns and two fourteen-inch torpedo carriages. An armored deck protected the machinery spaces rather than enclosing the whole hull in belt armor. For an 1880s protected corvette, that package made the class dangerous to any distant-station opponent of comparable size.
Notable Point · 19:50-29:02
Machinery, guns, and protected-corvette fighting value
Bark rig, compound machinery, a sixteen-gun battery, torpedo carriages, and protected-deck armor gave the Calypso class credible distant-station fighting value.