HMS Pearl (1855)

HMS Pearl was a Pearl-class screw frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1855. She was built at Woolwich Dockyard and commissioned in 1856.

A wooden-hulled ship, Pearl was armed with a mix of smoothbore guns and rifled breech-loaders. She served extensively on the Australia Station and in the Pacific.

Pearl participated in suppressing piracy and maintaining British interests in the Pacific Islands. A notable event was her involvement in the annexation of Penrhyn Island (Tongareva) to the British Empire in 1860.

Later in her career, Pearl was used as a training ship. She was eventually sold out of service in 1882. The Pearl-class frigates, of which HMS Pearl was the lead ship, represented a significant technological advancement with the introduction of screw propulsion into the Royal Navy's frigate fleet.