HMS Caledonia (1862)

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

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.

History
United Kingdom
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	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 plan	Single-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
Complement	605
Armament	1865 : 10 × 7 in (180 mm) breech loading Armstrong rifles 8 × 100-pounder smoothbore 12 × 68-pounder smoothbore guns 1867 : 4 × 8 in (200 mm) muzzle-loading rifles 20 × 7 in (180 mm) muzzle-loading rifles
Armour	Battery 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

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She was temporarily withdrawn from service in 1866 for reconstruction which involved the addition of a poop deck.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. 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. She was paid off at Plymouth, and was laid up there until she was sold on 30 September 1886.

Bibliography

• 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.
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• 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.
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