HMS Ocean (1863)

Last updated

HMS Ocean (1862).jpg
HMS Ocean in 1868
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Ocean
Builder Devonport Dockyard
Cost£298,851
Laid down23 August 1860
Launched19 March 1863
Completed6 September 1866
CommissionedJuly 1866
DecommissionedJune 1872
FateSold for scrap, 1882
General characteristics
Class and type Prince Consort-class armoured frigate
Displacement6,832 long tons (6,942 t)
Length273 ft 1 in (83.2 m)
Beam58 ft 5 in (17.8 m)
Draught27 ft 6 in (8.4 m)
Installed power
Propulsion1 shaft, 1 Horizontal return connecting-rod steam engine
Sail plan Barque rig
Speed12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Range2,000  nmi (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph)
Complement605
Armament24 × 7-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns
Armour
  • Belt: 3–4.5 in (76–114 mm)
  • Battery: 3–4.5 in (76–114 mm)

HMS Ocean was the last of the Royal Navy's four Prince Consort-class ironclads to be completed in the mid-1860s. She was originally laid down as a 91-gun second-rate ship of the line, and was converted during construction to an armoured frigate. The ship spent the bulk of her career on the China Station and served as flagship there for a time. Upon her return to Great Britain in 1872 her hull was found to be partly rotten and she was placed in reserve until she was sold for scrap in 1882.

Contents

Design and description

HMS Ocean was 273 feet 1 inch (83.2 m) long between perpendiculars and had a beam of 58 feet 5 inches (17.8 m). The ship had a draught of 24 feet 5 inches (7.4 m) forward and 27 feet 6 inches (8.4 m) aft. She displaced 6,832 long tons (6,942 t). [1]

Ocean had a metacentric height of 6.01 feet (1.83 m) which meant that she rolled a lot and was an unsteady gun platform. [2] Her hull was sheathed with Muntz metal to reduce biofouling. Her crew consisted of 605 officers and ratings. [3]

Propulsion

Ocean had a simple horizontal 2-cylinder horizontal return connecting-rod steam engine driving a single propeller shaft [4] using steam provided by eight rectangular boilers. [5] The engine produced 4,244 indicated horsepower (3,165 kW) during the ship's sea trials in June 1864 which gave the ship a maximum speed of 12.9 knots (23.9 km/h; 14.8 mph). Ocean carried a maximum of 570 long tons (580 t) of coal, [6] enough to steam 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph). She was barque-rigged with three masts and had a sail area of 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2). Her best speed with the propeller disconnected and under sail alone was 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph). [7] Yards were added to the ship's mizzenmast by 1866 and Ocean was given a full ship rig which she retained for the rest of her career. [8]

Armament

Ocean was initially armed with twenty-four seven-inch (178 mm) rifled muzzle-loading guns. Four of these guns were mounted on the upper deck as chase guns, two each fore and aft. [9] The 16-calibre seven-inch gun weighed 6.5 long tons (6.6 t) and fired a 112-pound (50.8 kg) shell. It was credited with the ability to penetrate 7.7 inches (196 mm) of armour. [10] In 1867 four of these guns were replaced by eight-inch (203 mm) rifled muzzle-loaders. [9] The shell of the 15-calibre eight-inch gun weighed 175 pounds (79.4 kg) while the gun itself weighed nine long tons (9.1 t). It had a muzzle velocity of 1,410 ft/s (430 m/s) and was credited with the ability to penetrate 9.6 inches (244 mm) of wrought iron armour at the muzzle. [10]

Armour

The entire side of the Prince Consort-class ships, from the upper-deck level downwards, was protected by wrought iron armour that tapered from 4.5 inches (114 mm) amidships to 3 inches (76 mm) at the ends. The armour extended 5 feet 6 inches (1.7 m) below the waterline. One small conning tower was fitted on each side of the upper deck amidships, but these proved to be untenable when the ship's guns were fired. The armour was backed by the sides of the ship which were 29.5 inches (749 mm) thick. [11]

Service history

HMS Ocean was laid down on 23 August 1860 as a wooden two-deck, 90-gun ship of the line by Devonport Dockyard. The Admiralty ordered on 5 June 1861 [12] that she be lengthened 23 feet (7.0 m), cut down one deck, [13] and converted to an armoured frigate for the price of £298,851. [9] The ship was launched on 19 March 1863 and commissioned in July 1866, but was not completed until 6 September 1866. [12] Ocean initially served with the Channel Fleet, but she was almost immediately transferred to the Mediterranean, and from there to the Far East; she arrived in Batavia (now Jakarta) on 15 October 1867. She was the only armoured ship ever to double the Cape of Good Hope under canvas alone. [14] During this voyage Ocean set a record in having sailed 243 nautical miles (450 km; 280 mi) on 26 August 1867 with cold boilers, the greatest distance ever covered under sail power by a British ironclad. [15]

Ocean served on the China Station for five years, 1867–1872, without docking once. The ship relieved the old two-decker HMS Rodney as station flagship in 1869 when Vice-Admiral Henry Kellett took command; a new crew was carried out by HMS Donegal and Captain William Hewett, VC assumed command of the ship. [14] In 1871, Ocean ran down and sunk a large Chinese junk at Amoy. [16] Ocean was relieved in turn by HMS Iron Duke in 1872, but drew too much water to pass through the Suez Canal. The Admiralty therefore ordered that she return home via the Cape of Good Hope using steam. The ship's bottom was very foul and she averaged only 4.5 knots (8.3 km/h) during the voyage. Ocean had lost a lot of sheathing during her time in the Far East and much of her planking was in a bad state. The ship was therefore relegated to dockyard reserve until sold in 1882, [14] to Castle's for breaking up at Charlton. Her stern decoration was sent to Millbank, London, to decorate Castle's yard entrance. [17]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Ballard, p. 241
  2. ↑ Parkes, p. 57
  3. ↑ Ballard, pp. 116, 118
  4. ↑ Ballard, pp. 119–120, 246
  5. ↑ Silverstone, p. 157
  6. ↑ Ballard, pp. 246–47
  7. ↑ Parkes, pp. 55, 57
  8. ↑ Ballard, p. 120
  9. 1 2 3 Parkes, p. 55
  10. 1 2 Gardiner, p. 6
  11. ↑ Ballard, p. 118, 243
  12. 1 2 Ballard, p. 240
  13. ↑ Ballard, pp. 116–17
  14. 1 2 3 Ballard, p. 125
  15. ↑ Ballard, p. 124
  16. ↑ "Mercantile Ship News". The Standard. No. 14730. London. 18 October 1871. p. 7.
  17. ↑ "Ships figureheads over the gate at Castles Shipbreaking Yard". media storehouse. Retrieved 8 November 2023.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Enterprise</i> (1864) Armoured sloop from UK

The seventh HMS Enterprise of the Royal Navy was an armoured sloop launched in 1864 at Deptford Dockyard. Originally laid down as a wooden screw sloop of the Camelion class, she was redesigned by Edward Reed and completed as a central battery ironclad. The ship spent the bulk of her career assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet before returning to England in 1871 where she was paid off. Enterprise was sold for scrap in 1885.

HMS <i>Agincourt</i> (1865) Minotaur-class armoured frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Agincourt was a Minotaur-class armoured frigate built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s. She spent most of her career as the flagship of the Channel Squadron's second-in-command. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, she was one of the ironclads sent to Constantinople to forestall a Russian occupation of the Ottoman capital. Agincourt participated in Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee Fleet Review in 1887. The ship was placed in reserve two years later and served as a training ship from 1893 to 1909. That year she was converted into a coal hulk and renamed as C.109. Agincourt served at Sheerness until sold for scrap in 1960.

<i>Warrior</i>-class ironclad Class of ironclads of the Royal Navy

The Warrior-class ironclads were a class of two warships built for the Royal Navy between 1859 and 1862, the first ocean-going ironclads with iron hulls ever constructed. The ships were designed as armoured frigates in response to an invasion scare sparked by the launch of the French ironclad Gloire and her three sisters in 1858. They were initially armed with a mix of rifled breech-loading and muzzle-loading smoothbore guns, but the Armstrong breech-loading guns proved unreliable and were ultimately withdrawn from service.

HMS <i>Black Prince</i> (1861) 1861 Warrior-class ironclad ship

HMS Black Prince was the third ship of that name to serve with the Royal Navy. She was the world's second ocean-going, iron-hulled, armoured warship, following her sister ship, HMS Warrior. For a brief period the two Warrior-class ironclads were the most powerful warships in the world, being virtually impregnable to the naval guns of the time. Rapid advances in naval technology left Black Prince and her sister obsolete within a short time, however, and she spent more time in reserve and training roles than in first-line service.

HMS Valiant was the second ship of the Hector-class armoured frigates ordered by the Royal Navy in 1861. Her builders went bankrupt shortly after she was laid down, which significantly delayed her completion. After being launched in 1863, she waited a further five years to receive her guns due to supply issues. Upon being commissioned in 1868 the ship was assigned as the First Reserve guard ship for Southern Ireland, where she remained until she was decommissioned in 1885. Valiant was hulked in 1897 as part of the stoker training school HMS Indus before becoming a storeship for kite balloons during the First World War. The ship was converted to a floating oil tank in 1926 and served in that role until sold for scrap in 1956.

HMS <i>Minotaur</i> (1863) Lead ship of the British Minotaur-class armoured frigates

HMS Minotaur was the lead ship of the Minotaur-class armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s. Minotaur took nearly four years between her launching and commissioning because she was used for evaluations of her armament and different sailing rigs.

HMS <i>Royal Oak</i> (1862) Prince Consort-class armoured frigate

HMS Royal Oak was a Prince Consort-class armoured frigate built for the Royal Navy in the 1860s. The lead ship of her class, she is sometimes described as a half-sister to the other three ships because of her different engine and boiler arrangements. Like her sisters, she was converted into an ironclad from a wooden ship of the line that was still under construction.

HMS <i>Audacious</i> (1869) British lead ship of Audacious-class

HMS Audacious was the lead ship of the Audacious-class ironclads built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. They were designed as second-class ironclads suitable for use on foreign stations and the ship spent the bulk of her career on the China Station. She was decommissioned in 1894 and hulked in 1902 for use as a training ship. The ship was towed to Scapa Flow after the beginning of the First World War to be used as a receiving ship and then to Rosyth after the war ended. Audacious was sold for scrap in 1929.

HMS <i>Defence</i> (1861) 1861 ship of the Royal Navy

HMS Defence was the lead ship of the Defence-class armoured frigates ordered by the Royal Navy in 1859. Upon completion in 1862 she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. The ship was paid off in 1866 to be refitted and rearmed and was briefly reassigned to the Channel Fleet when she recommissioned in 1868. Defence had short tours on the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Stations, relieving other ironclads, from 1869 to 1872 before she was refitted again from 1872 to 1874. She became guard ship on the River Shannon when she recommissioned. The ship was transferred to the Channel Fleet again in 1876 and then became guard ship on the River Mersey until 1885. Defence was placed in reserve until 1890, when she was assigned to the mechanical training school in Devonport in 1890. She was renamed Indus when the school adopted that name and served there until sold for scrap in 1935.

HMS <i>Resistance</i> (1861) British defence-class ironclads

HMS Resistance was the second of two Defence-class ironclads built for the Royal Navy in the 1860s. She was the first capital ship in the Royal Navy to be fitted with a ram and was given the nickname of Old Rammo. Resistance was initially assigned to the Channel Fleet upon commissioning, but was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1864, the first ironclad to be assigned to that fleet. She was rearmed in 1867 and became a guardship when recommissioned in 1869. The ship was reassigned to the Channel Fleet in 1873 before reverting to her former duties in 1877. Resistance was decommissioned in 1880 and was used for gunnery and torpedo trials beginning in 1885. The ship was sold for scrap in 1898 and foundered in 1899 en route to the breaker's yard. She was salvaged and later scrapped.

<i>Defence</i>-class ironclad British warship class

The Defence-class ironclads were a class of two warships built for the Royal Navy between 1859 and 1862. The ships were designed as armoured frigates in response to an invasion scare sparked by the launch of the French ironclad Gloire and her three sisters in 1858. They were initially armed with a mix of rifled breech-loading and muzzle-loading smoothbore guns, but the Armstrong breech-loading guns proved unreliable and were withdrawn from service after a few years.

The Hector-class ironclads were a pair of armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the 1860s. Hector was completed in 1864 and assigned to the Channel Fleet until she began a refit in 1867. Valiant's builder went bankrupt, delaying her launching by a year. The ship then had to wait almost another five years to receive her guns and be commissioned. Both ships were assigned to the Reserve Fleet from 1868 until they were paid off in 1885–1886. They were mobilized during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, but saw no action. They were hulked in the late 1890s and assigned to shore establishments. Hector was scrapped in 1905, but Valiant was converted into a floating oil tank in 1926; she was sold for scrap thirty years later.

HMS Hector was the lead ship of the Hector-class armoured frigates ordered by the Royal Navy in 1861. Upon completion in 1864, she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. The ship was paid off in 1867 to refit and be re-armed. Upon recommissioning in 1868, she was assigned as the guard ship of the Fleet Reserve in the southern district until 1886. She usually served as Queen Victoria's guard ship when the sovereign was resident at her vacation home on the Isle of Wight. Hector was paid off in 1886 and hulked in 1900 as a storage ship before being sold for scrap in 1905.

HMS <i>Achilles</i> (1863) Armoured frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Achilles was an armoured frigate built for the Royal Navy in the 1860s. Upon her completion in 1864 she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. The ship was paid off in 1868 to refit and be re-armed. When she recommissioned in 1869, she was assigned as the guard ship of the Fleet Reserve in the Portland District until 1874. Achilles was refitted and re-armed again in 1874 and became the guard ship of the Liverpool District in 1875. Two years later, she was rejoined the Channel Fleet before going to the Mediterranean in 1878. The ship returned to the Channel Fleet in 1880 and served until she was paid off in 1885.

HMS <i>Northumberland</i> (1866) 1866 ship

HMS Northumberland was the last of the three Minotaur-class armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s. She had a different armour scheme and heavier armament than her sister ships, and was generally regarded as a half-sister to the other ships of the class. The ship spent her career with the Channel Squadron and occasionally served as a flagship. Northumberland was placed in reserve in 1890 and became a training ship in 1898. She was converted into a coal hulk in 1909 and sold in 1927, although the ship was not scrapped until 1935.

HMS <i>Zealous</i> (1864) British Bulwark-class armoured frigates

HMSZealous was one of the three ships forming the second group of wooden steam battleships selected in 1860 for conversion to ironclads. This was done in response to the perceived threat to Britain offered by the large French ironclad building programme. The ship was ordered to the West Coast of Canada after she was completed to represent British interests in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Zealous became the flagship for the Pacific Station for six years until she was relieved in 1872. She was refitted upon her arrival and subsequently became the guard ship at Southampton until she was paid off in 1875. The ship was in reserve until she was sold for scrap in 1886.

HMS <i>Lord Clyde</i> British lead ship of Lord Clyde

HMS Lord Clyde was the name ship of the wooden-hulled Lord Clyde class of two armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy (RN) during the 1860s. She and her sister ship, Lord Warden, were the heaviest wooden ships ever built and were also the fastest steaming wooden ships in the RN. Lord Clyde was initially assigned to the Channel Fleet in 1866, but was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1868. The ship suffered engine problems throughout her career and it needed to be replaced after only two years of service. She rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet in 1871, but was badly damaged when she ran aground the next year. When Lord Clyde was under repair, her hull was found to be rotten and she was sold for scrap in 1875.

HMS <i>Lord Warden</i> Ship of the Lord Clyde class of armoured frigates

HMS Lord Warden was the second and last ship of the wooden-hulled Lord Clyde class of armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy (RN) during the 1860s. She and her sister ship, Lord Clyde, were the heaviest wooden ships ever built and were also the fastest steaming wooden ships. They were also the slowest-sailing ironclads in the RN.

HMS <i>Bellerophon</i> (1865)

HMS Bellerophon was a central battery ironclad built for the Royal Navy in the mid-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.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.