History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Caledonia
NamesakeCaledonia
BuilderWoolwich Dockyard
Laid down10 October 1860
Launched24 October 1862
CompletedJuly 1865
FateBroken up, 1886
General characteristics
Class and typePrince Consort-class ironclad
Displacement6,832 long tons (6,942 t)
Length
  • As built : 252 ft (77 m)
  • After 1866 : 273 ft (83 m)
Beam
  • As built : 57 ft (17 m)
  • After 1866 : 58 ft 6 in (17.83 m)
Draught
  • As built : 25 ft (7.6 m) light
  • 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) deep load
  • After 1866 : 24 ft (7.3 m) light
  • 26 ft 9 in (8.15 m) deep load
Propulsion
  • One-shaft Maudsley horizontal reciprocating
  • 3,750 ihp (2,796 kW)
Sail planSingle-topsail barque, sail area 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m2)
Speed
  • 12.5 knots (14.4 mph; 23.2 km/h) under power
  • 11.5 knots (13.2 mph; 21.3 km/h) under sail
Complement605
Armament
ArmourBattery and belt: 4.5 in (110 mm) amidships and 3 in (76 mm) fore and aft
Launch of the armour-plated screw-frigate Caledonia, at Woolwich

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

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She was temporarily withdrawn from service in 1866 for reconstruction which involved the addition of a poop deck.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. 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. 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.

References

  1. ↑ "Another Ironclad Ashore". Birmingham Daily Post. No. 4057. Birmingham. 19 July 1871.
  2. ↑ "Shipping Disasters". Liverpool Mercury. No. 7928. Liverpool. 18 June 1873.
Sources
  • Oscar Parkes (July 1990). British battleships : "Warrior" 1860 to "Vanguard" 1950. ISBN 978-0-85052-604-2.
  • Roger Chesneau; Eugène M. Koleśnik; N. J. M. Campbell (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
  • Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk
  • George Alexander Ballard (1 January 1980). The black battlefleet. ISBN 978-0-245-53030-2.
  • 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.
  • Roger Chesneau; N. J. M. Campbell (December 1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Wh Smith Pub. ISBN 978-0-8317-0302-8.
  • Andrew Lambert (24 September 1984). Battleships in transition. ISBN 978-0-85177-315-5.
  • Oscar Parkes (August 1990). British battleships, "Warrior" 1860 to "Vanguard" 1950. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-075-5.
  • Reed, Edward J Our Ironclad Ships, their Qualities, Performance and Cost, published John Murray, 1869.
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