HMS Abyssinia

Last updated

HMS Abyssinia (1870) Photo.jpg
Abyssinia circa. 1895
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg Bombay Marine
NameHMS Abyssinia
Builder J & W Dudgeon, Cubitt Town, London
Cost£116,549 [1]
Laid down23 July 1868
Launched19 February 1870
CompletedOctober 1870
FateBroken up, 1903
General characteristics
Class and typeModified Cerberus-class monitor
Displacement2,901 tons
Tons burthen1854 bm [1]
Length225 ft (69 m) pp
Beam42 ft (13 m)
Draught14 ft 7 in (4.45 m)
Installed power1,200  ihp (890 kW)
Propulsion
  • 2 × 2-cylinder diagonal single-expansion steam engines by Dudgeon
  • 2 screws
Speed9.59 knots (18 km/h)
Complement100
Armament
Armour
  • Belt 7 inches (18 cm) amidships, 6 inches (15 cm) fore and aft
  • Breastwork 7–8 inches (18–20 cm) inches
  • Turrets 10 inches (25 cm) faces, 8 inches (20 cm) sides
  • Deck 1.5 inches (3.8 cm)
  • Breastwork deck 1 inch (2.5 cm)

HMS Abyssinia was a breastwork monitor ordered, designed and built by J & W Dudgeon specifically for the Bombay Marine for the defence of the harbour at Bombay.

Contents

She was designed by Sir Edward Reed, and was a smaller version of, and hence a half-sister to, the Cerberus-class monitors Cerberus and Magdala. It was intended that Abyssinia and Magdala would serve in mutual support on the same station. Given that the stipulated naval requirement was for two ships for the coastal defence of the Bombay area, the India Office were pressed by the Board of Admiralty and the Chief Constructor to order two ships of the Cerberus class. After the placing of the order for Magdala, budgetary limitations meant that a smaller, cheaper vessel had to be acquired.

Abyssinia, while being similar in layout to Magdala, was smaller and cost £20,000 less. She had slightly less freeboard, a shorter breastwork, could carry less coal and had about one knot less speed.

The ferry trip out to her base in Bombay was made under her own power, without the use of any sail whatsoever. Unlike her half-sisters, the hull was not built up for the trip, which she made in a faster time than they did.

Service history

Abyssinia remained at anchor in Bombay harbour, other than for occasional brief trips for firing practice, for the whole of her service career. When the Indian Harbour Defence Service was discontinued in 1903, she was sold locally and broken up.

Citations

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Enterprise</i> (1774) Enterprise-class Royal Navy frigate

HMS Enterprise was a 28-gun sixth-rate Enterprise-class frigate of the Royal Navy. She was the name ship of her class of twenty-seven ships.

HMVS <i>Cerberus</i> Wrecked navy ship in Victoria, Australia

HMVS Cerberus is a breastwork monitor that served in the Victoria Naval Forces, the Commonwealth Naval Forces (CNF), and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) between 1871 and 1924.

HMS <i>Thunderer</i> (1872) Royal Navy Devastation-class turret ship

HMS Thunderer was one of two Devastation-class ironclad turret ships built for the Royal Navy in the 1870s. She suffered two serious accidents before the decade was out and gained a reputation as an unlucky ship for several years afterward. The ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1878 and was reduced to reserve in 1881 before being recommissioned in 1885. Thunderer returned home in 1887 and was again placed in reserve. She rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet in 1891, but was forced to return to the UK by boiler problems the following year. The ship became a coast guard ship in Wales in 1895 and was again placed in reserve in 1900. Thunderer was taken out of service in 1907 and sold for scrap in 1909.

HMS <i>Prince of Wales</i> (1860) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Prince of Wales was one of six 121-gun screw-propelled first-rate three-decker line-of-battle ships of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 25 January 1860.

HMS <i>Kingfisher</i> (1879) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Kingfisher was a Doterel-class screw sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built at Sheerness Dockyard and launched on 16 December 1879. She conducted anti-slavery work in the East Indies in the late 1880s before being re-roled as a training cruiser, being renamed HMS Lark on 10 November 1892, and then HMS Cruizer on 18 May 1893. She was sold in 1919.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coastal defence ship</span> Warships built for the purpose of coastal defense.

Coastal defence ships were warships built for the purpose of coastal defence, mostly during the period from 1860 to 1920. They were small, often cruiser-sized warships that sacrificed speed and range for armour and armament. They were usually attractive to nations that either could not afford full-sized battleships or could be satisfied by specially designed shallow-draft vessels capable of littoral operations close to their own shores. The Nordic countries and Thailand found them particularly appropriate for their island-dotted coastal waters. Some vessels had limited blue-water capabilities; others operated in rivers.

<i>Cerberus</i>-class monitor

The Cerberus-class breastwork monitor was a pair of breastwork monitors built for the Royal Navy in the 1860s.

HMS <i>Magdala</i> (1870)

HMS Magdala was a Cerberus-class breastwork monitor of the Royal Navy, built specifically to serve as a coastal defence ship for the harbour of Bombay in the late 1860s. She was ordered by the India Office for the Bombay Marine. The original specifications were thought to be too expensive and a cheaper design was ordered. While limited to harbour defence duties, the breastwork monitors were described by Admiral George Alexander Ballard as being like "full-armoured knights riding on donkeys, easy to avoid but bad to close with." Aside from gunnery practice Magdala remained in Bombay Harbour for her entire career. The ship was sold for scrap in 1903.

HMS <i>Glatton</i> (1871)

HMS Glatton was a breastwork monitor which served in the Victorian Royal Navy.

HMS <i>Superb</i> (1760) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Superb was a 74-gun Bellona-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir Thomas Slade and built by Adam Hayes at Deptford Dockyard, launched on 27 October 1760 as a sister ship to HMS Dragon.

HMS <i>Euphrates</i> (1866)

HMS Euphrates was an iron-hulled troopship of the Euphrates class. She was designed for the transport of British troops to India, and launched in the River Mersey on 24 November 1866 by Laird Brothers of Birkenhead. She was the fourth and last Royal Navy ship to bear the name.

<i>Nymphe</i>-class sloop

The Nymphe class was a class of four screw composite sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1885 and 1888. As built they were armed with four 4-inch guns and four 3-pounder guns.

HMS Viper was an armoured iron gunboat, the only ship of her class, and the fourteenth ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name.

HMS <i>Cerberus</i> (1758) Coventry-class Royal Navy frigate

HMS Cerberus was a 28 gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

<i>Cyclops</i>-class monitor Class of breastwork monitors

The Cyclops-class monitor was a group of four ironclad breastwork monitors built for the Royal Navy during the 1870s. They were slightly modified versions of the Cerberus-class monitors. The ships were ordered to satisfy demands for local defence during the war scare of 1870, but the pace of construction slowed tremendously as the perceived threat of war declined. The Cyclops-class monitors spent most of their careers in reserve and were finally sold off in 1903.

HMS <i>Cyclops</i> (1871) British Cyclops-class monitor

HMS Cyclops was the lead ship of the Cyclops-class breastwork monitors built for the Royal Navy during the 1870s. The ships were ordered to satisfy demands for local defence during the war scare of 1870, but the pace of construction slowed tremendously as the perceived threat of war declined. The ship spent most of her career in reserve; her only sustained period in commission was four months in Portland Harbour, during the Russo-Turkish War in 1878 when the British were trying to force the Russians to end the war without allowing them to seize Constantinople. Cyclops was sold for scrap in 1903.

HMS <i>Conway</i> (1832) Conway-class sixth rate of the Royal Navy

HMS Conway was a Conway-class sixth rate of the Royal Navy, built by Chatham Dockyard and launched on 2 February 1832. She was lent to the Mercantile Marine Association of Liverpool in February 1859 to act as a training ship for boys, and gave her name to HMS Conway, ultimately a series of three ships and then from 1964 to 1974 a shore-based school. When Winchester took her place as the training ship in 1861, the two ships swapped names. Under her new name of Winchester she became the Aberdeen Royal Naval Reserve ship on 28 August 1861.

HMS <i>Arab</i> (1874) Arab-class composite gunboat

HMS Arab was an Arab-class composite gunvessel built for the Royal Navy in 1874. She served in the East Indies and was sold in 1889.

References

Further reading