In 1869 she was renamed HMS Britannia and under that name served at Dartmouth as a cadet training ship until 1905.
History
The Prince of Wales was originally a 3,186 ton 120 gun design by John Edye and Isaac Watts for a modified Queen-class sailing line-of-battle ship. She was laid down at Portsmouth on 10 June 1848, although she was not formally ordered until 29 June, and the design was approved on 28 July 1848.[2]
In 1849, the Royal Navy started ordering screw line-of-battle ships starting with the Agamemnon.[4] It is possible that construction of Prince of Wales was suspended, as screw line-of-battle ships laid down after her, were completed before her. Prince of Wales was reordered to complete as a 121 gun screw line-of-battle ship on 9 April 1856,[2] conversion work started on 27 October 1856.[2] Her half-sisters Duke of Wellington and Royal Sovereign were lengthened with an extra 23ft amidships and 8ft in the run, and originally it was intended that Marlborough and Prince of Wales would be converted to the same plans, but they were further lengthened during construction.[5]
Her engines were 800 nhp Penn[1] two-cylinder (82inch diameter, 4ft stroke) horizontal single expansion trunk engines.[3]
She was launched on 25 January 1860, and did her trials at sea in Stokes Bay on 31 October 1860 unrigged. She made an average of 12.569 knots (23.293km/h ).[1]
Prince of Wales was completed toward the end of the unarmoured phase of a naval arms race between Britain and France. In 1860 the Royal Navy had more wooden steam line-of-battle ships than it needed to man in peacetime. The Royal Navy's first armoured line-of-battle ship, Warrior was commissioned in 1861. Unarmoured screw line-of-battle ships were still of value in the early to mid-1860s, and several new screw line-of-battle ships were commissioned in the 1860s.[6]
Britannia and Hindostan at Dartmouth
In 1867, the Prince of Wales's engines were removed so they could be installed in the ironclad Repulse.
A photograph of the future George V and his elder brother Albert Victor, dated by George 1878, cadets on board the training ship Britannia
In 1869 she was renamed Britannia and began service as a cadet training ship at Dartmouth, replacing the previous Britannia in that role.[3] As Britannia, she was a hulk, and had only her foremast.[7] Among those starting their naval careers on her were, in 1877, the future Admiral and First Sea Lord Rosslyn Wemyss, Prince Albert Victor, and his younger brother, the future King George V.
A shore-based college at Dartmouth was opened in September 1905 and this was named Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. The Britannia training establishment was closed at the same time.[8]
A new King Edward VII-class battleship called Britannia was launched in December 1904.[9] The former Prince of Wales was officially hulked in September 1909, sold to Garnham on 23 September 1914, then resold to Hughes Bolckow arriving at Blyth in July 1916 for breaking up. In 1917 her "wreck" was etched by Frank Brangwyn, a print of which can be seen in Bruges' Groeningemuseum today.[3]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif The Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889, page 90.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif The Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889, page 183.
↑ Lambert, Andrew Battleships in Transition, the Creation of the Steam Battlefleet 1815-1860
↑ Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif The Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889, page 182.
↑ For instance the new screw three-decker Victoria was first commissioned in 1864, and the new screw two-deckers Gibraltar and Duncan were first commissioned in 1863 and 1864 respectively. See Lambert Battleships in Transition.
↑ See photograph of Britannia at the turn of the century on page 127 of Lambert Battleships in Transition, the Creation of the Steam Battlefleet 1815-1860.
↑ Lord Tweedmouth, First Lord's Statement explanatory of Navy Estimates, 1906-7, 26 February 1906, reproduced in The Naval Annual 1906, page 370.
↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1806-1905, p. 38.
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which involved the two columns of opposing warships maneuvering to volley fire with the cannons along their broadsides. In conflicts where opposing ships were both able to fire from their broadsides, the opponent with more cannons firing – and therefore more firepower – typically had an advantage.
HMS Queen was a 110-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 May 1839 at Portsmouth. She was the last purely sailing-built battleship to be ordered. Subsequent ones were ordered with both sails and steam engines. All British battleships were constructed with sailing rig until the 1870s. HMS Queen had an auxiliary steam engine fitted in late 1850s. She was broken up in 1871.
HMS Britannia was a 120-gun first-rate ship-of-the-line of the Royal Navy, laid down in 1813 and launched on 20 October 1820.
Napoléon was a 90-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, and the first purpose-built steam battleship in the world. She is also considered the first true steam battleship, and the first screw battleship ever.
HMS Agamemnon was a Royal Navy 91-gun battleship ordered by the Admiralty in 1849, in response to the perceived threat from France by their possession of ships of the Napoléon class.
The Bulwark class were the final class of wooden line-of-battle ships laid down for the Royal Navy. They were laid down after HMS Warrior. In March 1861 their construction was suspended, and seven were later converted to iron-clads. HMS Bulwark and HMS Robust were kept on the stocks almost complete, in case of need, until they were scrapped in 1873 and 1872.
The Duncan class of 101-gun two-decker steam line-of-battle ships are considered by Professor Andrew Lambert to have been the "final statement of the British design progress" for steam two-deckers. The class consisted of HMS Duncan and HMS Gibraltar. The Bulwark class had identical hulls. HMS Gibraltar was the last wooden steam line-of-battleship to commission as a private ship in the Royal Navy.
HMS Caledonia was a 120-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 25 June 1808 at Plymouth. She was Admiral Pellew's flagship in the Mediterranean.
The Caledonia-class ships of the line were a class of nine 120-gun first rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir William Rule. A tenth ship was ordered on 29 October 1827 to the same design, but was launched in 1833 as Queen to a fresh design by Sir William Symonds.
HMS Prince Regent was a 120-gun first rate three-decker ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 12 April 1823 at Chatham.
HMS Neptune was a 120-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 22 September 1832 at Portsmouth.
HMS Royal William was a 120-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 April 1833 at Pembroke Dock having taken eight years to build. She was one of the largest ships ever built by the Royal Navy at that time, with a crew of 900 men. However, she was built during the long period of peace in Great Britain and never saw any meaningful service.
HMS Waterloo was a 120-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 10 June 1833 at Chatham.
The Black Prince-class ships of the line were a class of four 74-gun third rates built for the Royal Navy in the closing years of the Napoleonic War. The draught for this class of ship was essentially a reduced version of the captured Danish ship Christian VII.
HMS Marlborough was a first-rate three-decker 131-gun screw ship built for the Royal Navy in 1855. She was begun as a sailing ship of the line, but was completed to a modified design and converted to steam on the stocks, and launched as a wooden steam battleship.
HMS Victor Emmanuel was a screw-propelled 91-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, originally launched as HMS Repulse, but renamed shortly after being launched.
The Conqueror-class ships of the line were a class of two 101-gun first rate screw propelled ships designed by the Surveyor’s Department for the Royal Navy.
HMS St Jean d'Acre was the Royal Navy's first 101 gun screw two-decker line-of-battle ship. She served in the Crimean War.
The Agamemnon-class steam battleships, or steam ships of the line, were a class of five 91-gun steam second rates of the Royal Navy. The original design was produced by John Edye in 1847, as a response to the French Le Napoléon, which was rumoured to be under development.
References
Lambert, AndrewBattleships in Transition, the Creation of the Steam Battlefleet 1815-1860, published Conway Maritime Press, 1984. ISBN0-85177-315-X
Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif The Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889, published Chatham, 2004, ISBN1-86176-032-9
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