HMS Victoria (1859)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Victoria.

HMS Victoria, painting by William Mackenzie Thomson
History
Royal Navy United Kingdom
Name	Victoria
Ordered	6 January 1855
Builder	HM Dockyard, Portsmouth
Laid down	1 April 1856
Launched	12 November 1859
Fate	Sold for scrap, 31 May 1893
General characteristics
Class & type	Victoria-class ship of the line
Displacement	6,959 tons
Tons burthen	412671⁄94 bm
Length	260 ft (79.2 m)
Beam	60 ft 1 in (18.3 m)
Draught	21 ft 2 in (6.5 m)
Depth of hold	26 ft 10 in (8.2 m)
Installed power	8 fire-tube boilers 4,403  ihp (3,283  kW; 4,464  PS)
Propulsion	1 propeller shaft; 1 steam engine
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Speed	11.8 knots (21.9 km/h; 13.6 mph)
Complement	1,000 officers and ratings
Armament	Lower gun deck: 32 × 8 in (203 mm) shell guns Middle gun deck: 30 × 8 in guns Upper gun deck: 32 × 32 pdr guns Quarter deck: 26 × 32 pdr guns, 1 × 68 pdr gun

HMS Victoria was a 121-gun screw first-rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy during the 1850s. She and her sister ship HMS Howe were the only British three-decker ships of the line to be designed from the start for screw propulsion, and were the largest wooden battleships of their time. She was the world's second-largest wooden battleship after Howe. ^[1] She was also the world's second largest warship until the completion of HMS Warrior, Britain's first ironclad battleship, in 1861. Although the ship was completed in 1860, she was not commissioned until 1864 when Victoria became the flagship of Britain's Mediterranean Fleet. She was paid off in 1867 into the reserve fleet and was sold for scrap in 1893.

Description

Victoria measured 260 feet (79.2 m) on the gundeck and 221 feet 10 inches (67.6 m) on the keel. She had a beam of 60 feet 1 inch (18.3 m), a maximum draught of 21 feet 2 inches (6.5 m), and a depth of hold of 26 feet 10 inches (8.2 m). The ship had a tonnage of 4,126 71⁄94 tons burthen ^[2] and displaced 6,959 long tons (7,071  t ). ^[3] The great size of the Victoria class required that their hulls be reinforced by thick diagonal wrought-iron straps. ^[4] The armament of the ships consisted of thirty-two 8 in (203 mm) shell guns on her lower gun deck, thirty 8-inch shell guns on the middle gun deck and thirty-two 32-pounder (56 cwt) guns ^{[Note 1]} on her upper gun deck. Between their forecastle and quarterdeck, they carried twenty-six 32-pounder (42 cwt) guns and a single 68-pounder (95 cwt) on a pivot mount. Their crew numbered 1000 officers and ratings. ^[2]

Victoria was powered by a two-cylinder, horizontal single-expansion steam engine that was rated at 1000 nominal horsepower; it used steam from eight fire-tube boilers to drive the single propeller shaft. ^[2] Her engine was built by Maudslay, Sons and Field and it produced 4,403 indicated horsepower (3,283  kW ; 4,464  PS ) during the ship's sea trials on 5 July 1860 which gave her a maximum speed of 11.8 knots (21.9 km/h; 13.6 mph). The Victoria-class ships were unique in the RN as the only wooden battleships with boiler rooms fore and aft of the engine room. ^[3] Each boiler room was fitted with a funnel that could be retracted to reduce drag when under sail. ^[2]

Construction and career

Victoria was ordered on 3 April 1854 without a name, named on 6 January 1855, laid down on 1 April 1856 at HM Dockyard, Portsmouth, and launched on 12 November 1859. She was completed on 20 April 1860, and was immediately laid up as part of the reserve fleet at Portsmouth. The ship was finally commissioned on 2 November 1864, when she became flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet under Vice-Admiral Robert Smart and Captain James Graham Goodenough. On 19 April 1866, Victoria became the flagship of Vice-Admiral Lord Clarence Paget with Captain Alan Gardiner in command. As of 10 June 1867, the ship was commanded by Commander William Codrington and served as the flagship of Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley. Victoria returned home in time to participate in the Fleet review at Spithead on 17 July and she was paid off on 7 August at Portsmouth. She became part of the reserve fleet again and was sold for scrap on 31 May 1893. ^[2]

Notes

1. "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 56 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.

References

1. Winfield 2010, pp. 118–121
2. Winfield 2014, p. 22
3. Lambert, p. 122
4. Friedman, p. 64

Bibliography

• Friedman, Norman (2018). British Battleships of the Victorian Era. Naval Institute Press. ISBN   978-1-68247-329-0.
• Lambert, Andrew D. (1984). Battleships in Transition: The Creation of the Steam Battlefleet 1815-1860. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN   0-85177-315-X.
• Winfield, Rif (2010). First Rate: The Greatest Warships of the Age of Sail. Naval Institute Press. ISBN   978-1-59114-264-5.
• Winfield, Rif (2014). British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1817–1863: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN   978-1-84832-169-4.

External links

• NAVIES IN TRANSITION: The perfecting of the wooden man-of-war in the context of early 19th century international politics. A small guide to surviving and reconstructed 19th century warships from the pre-ironclad era in naval architecture. By Dirk J. Vries