HMS Mutine was a Doterel-class sloop of the Royal Navy, built at the Devonport Dockyard and launched on 20 July 1880. She became a boom defence vessel at Southampton in 1899 and was renamed Azov in 1904. She was sold after World War I.

The Doterel class was designed by Nathaniel Barnaby as a development of William Henry White's 1874 Osprey-class sloop. The graceful clipper bow of the Ospreys was replaced by a vertical stem and the engines were more powerful. The hull was of composite construction, with wooden planks over an iron frame.^[1]

Power was provided by three cylindrical boilers, which supplied steam at 60 pounds per square inch (410 kPa) to a two-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine driving a single 13-foot-1-inch (3.99 m) screw. This arrangement produced 1,020 indicated horsepower (760 kW) and a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h).^[1]

Ships of the class were armed with two 7-inch (90 cwt) muzzle-loading rifled guns on pivoting mounts, and four 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns (two on pivoting mounts, and two broadside). Four machine guns and one light gun completed the weaponry.^[1]

All the ships of the class were provided with a barque rig,^[1] that is, square-rigged foremast and mainmast, and fore-and-aft sails only on the mizzen mast.

Mutine would have had a normal complement of 140–150 men.^[1]

Mutine was ordered from Devonport Dockyard and laid down on 7 June 1879. She was launched on 20 July 1880 and was commissioned on 10 May 1881^[1] at Devonport.^[2]

Sloops of the 1880s and beyond were built to an outmoded design specifically to act as guardians of Britain's far-flung maritime empire; their sailing rig gave them enormous range, and their armament was more than sufficient for minor conflicts around the globe.^[3] Mutine was assigned to the Pacific Station, including service in China.^[2]

In 1904 Admiral John Fisher (amid great controversy) listed over 90 ships for disposal. Among those listed as "ships available for subsidiary purposes of war"^{[Note 1]} was Mutine.^[3] Converted to a boom defence vessel in 1899,^[3] she and her sister Espiegle were assigned to the boom protecting Southampton Water.^[4] Mutine was renamed Azov in March 1904 (Espiegle became Argo at the same time).^[1] They worked throughout World War I in this role.

Azov (ex-Mutine) was sold to C A Beard for breaking on 25 August 1921.^[3][1]

• Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.
• Preston, Antony; Major, John (2007). Send a Gunboat: The Victorian Navy and Supremacy at Sea, 1854–1904 (2nd ed.). London: Conway. ISBN 978-0-85177-923-2.