HMS Caledonia (1862)
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History | |
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Name | HMS Caledonia |
Namesake | Caledonia |
Builder | Woolwich Dockyard |
Laid down | 10 October 1860 |
Launched | 24 October 1862 |
Completed | July 1865 |
Fate | Broken up, 1886 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Prince Consort-class ironclad |
Displacement | 6,832 long tons (6,942 t) |
Length |
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Beam |
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Draught |
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Propulsion |
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Sail plan | Single-topsail barque, sail area 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m2) |
Speed | |
Complement | 605 |
Armament |
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Armour | Battery and belt: 4.5 in (110 mm) amidships and 3 in (76 mm) fore and aft |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Launch_of_Her_Majesty%27s_Armour-Plated_Screw-Frigate_Caledonia%2C_31_Guns%2C_at_Woolwich%2C_Yesterday_Week_-_ILN_1862.jpg/220px-Launch_of_Her_Majesty%27s_Armour-Plated_Screw-Frigate_Caledonia%2C_31_Guns%2C_at_Woolwich%2C_Yesterday_Week_-_ILN_1862.jpg)
HMS Caledonia was a broadside ironclad of the Prince Consort class. Originally laid down as a two-decker steam ship of the line of the Bulwark class, Caledonia was converted on the building stocks into an armoured frigate.
Service history
[edit]HMS Caledonia was not completed until July 1865 due to a delay in the delivery of her main armament. Once this was installed, she was commissioned as Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, becoming the first ever armoured flagship of the Royal Navy.
She was temporarily withdrawn from service in 1866 for reconstruction which involved the addition of a poop deck. Following this, she was flagship of the Channel Fleet until 1867, when she was paid off for re-armament.
HMS Caledonia was flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet until 1869 (relieving HMS Victoria, the last three-deck Royal Navy flagship) until 1872.[citation needed] In July 1871, she ran aground off Santorini, Greece. She was later refloated and taken in to Malta for repairs.[1] She was a guardship in the Firth of Forth from 1872 until 1875.[citation needed][dubious – discuss] On 15 June 1873, Caledonia was in collision with the British ship Hogton Tower off St. Alban's Head, Dorset. Hogton Tower was severely damaged at the bows; Caledonia towed her in to Spithead, Hampshire. Caledonia had been serving as a Coastguard vessel at Birkenhead, Cheshire and was sailing to Portsmouth, Hampshire for a forthcoming inspection of the fleet by the Shah of Persia.[2] She was paid off at Plymouth, and was laid up there until she was sold on 30 September 1886.[citation needed]
References
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]- Ballard, G. A., Admiral (1980). The Black Battlefleet. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-924-3.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Baxter, James Phinney The Introduction of the Ironclad Warship, published Harvard University, 1933.
- David K. Brown (30 April 1997). Warrior to dreadnought. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-86176-022-7.
- Clowes, William Laird Four Modern Naval Campaigns, Historical Strategical, and Tactical, first published Unit Library, 1902, reprinted Cornmarket Press, 1970.
- Andrew Lambert (24 September 1984). Battleships in transition. ISBN 978-0-85177-315-5.
- Parkes, Oscar (1990) [1957]. British Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
- Roberts, John (1979). "Great Britain (including Empire Forces)". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. New York: Mayflower Books. pp. 1–113. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- Reed, Edward J Our Ironclad Ships, their Qualities, Performance and Cost, published John Murray, 1869.