HMS Achilles (1863)

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Achilles, 1867–1877
History
United Kingdom
NameAchilles
NamesakeAchilles
Ordered10 April 1861
BuilderChatham Dockyard, England
Cost£469,572
Laid down1 August 1861
Launched23 December 1863
Completed26 November 1864
Renamed
  • 1902, Hibernia
  • March 1904, Egmont
  • 19 June 1916, Egremont
  • 6 June 1919, Pembroke
FateSold for scrap, 26 January 1923
General characteristics
Type
Armoured frigate
Displacement9,820 long tons (9,980 t)
Length380 ft (115.8 m)
Beam58 ft 3 in (17.8 m)
Draught27 ft 2 in (8.3 m)
Installed power
  • 10
    boilers
  • 5,720 
    kW
    )
Propulsion1 shaft, 1
trunk steam engine
Sail plan
Ship rig
Speed14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Range1,800 nmi (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at 6.5 knots (12.0 km/h; 7.5 mph)
Complement709
Armament
Armour
  • Belt: 2.5–4.5 in (64–114 mm)
  • Bulkheads: 4.5 in (114 mm)

HMS Achilles was an

armoured frigate[Note 1] built for the Royal Navy in the 1860s. Upon her completion in 1864 she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. The ship was paid off in 1868 to refit and be re-armed. When she recommissioned in 1869, she was assigned as the guard ship
of the Fleet Reserve in the Portland District until 1874. Achilles was refitted and re-armed again in 1874 and became the guard ship of the Liverpool District in 1875. Two years later, she was rejoined the Channel Fleet before going to the Mediterranean in 1878. The ship returned to the Channel Fleet in 1880 and served until she was paid off in 1885.

Achilles was recommissioned in 1901 as a depot ship at Malta under a succession of different names. She was transferred to Chatham in 1914 and was again renamed multiple times before she was sold for scrap in 1923. Achilles had more changes of her rigging and armament than any other British warship, before or since.[3]

Design and description

Achilles was the third member of the 1861 Naval Programme and was designed as an improved version of the earlier Warrior-class armoured frigates with a complete waterline armour belt.[3]

The ship was 380 feet 2 inches (115.9 m)

double bottom.[1] Achilles was designed with a high centre of gravity and was very stiff. So much so that the ship only rolled 10 degrees during one storm that ripped the main and mizen topgallant masts off and split her topsails. Because of her great length she was not very manoeuvrable. Achilles had a crew of 709 officers and ratings.[6]

Propulsion

The ship had a single two-cylinder

kW). The ship carried 750 long tons (760 t) of coal,[8] enough to steam 1,800 nautical miles (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at 6.5 knots (12.0 km/h; 7.5 mph).[3]

As built, Achilles was

ship-rigged with four masts, called bow, fore, main and mizen from fore to aft, and she was the only British warship ever to have four masts.[9] They carried a total of 44,000 square feet (4,088 m2) of sail area, excluding the stunsails, the greatest area ever spread in a British warship.[1] Her performance was unsatisfactory when the wind was before the beam and her bowsprit and bowmast were removed in June 1865 in an attempt to correct this problem. However, now she had too much weather helm so the bowsprit was replaced and the foremast was moved forward 25 feet (7.6 m) in July 1866.[3] This reduced her sail area to 30,133 square feet (2,799 m2).[1] In 1877 Achilles was rerigged as a barque.[9] Both of her funnels were retractable to reduce wind resistance while under sail alone.[10]

Armament

The intended armament of Achilles changed no less than five times before it was finally mounted. She received four rifled

Battles for Shimonoseki and the Bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863–1864 caused the navy to withdraw the gun from service shortly afterwards. In 1865, six 68-pounder smoothbores were added, three on each side of the main deck, although she was not comprehensively rearmed until her 1868 refit.[11]

Detailed data for the Somerset cannon is not available, but the 7.9-inch (201 mm)

solid shot of the 68-pounder gun weighed approximately 68 pounds (30.8 kg) while the gun itself weighed 10,640 pounds (4,826 kg). The gun had a muzzle velocity of 1,579 ft/s (481 m/s) and had a range of 3,200 yards (2,900 m) at an elevation of 12°. The seven-inch (178 mm) shell of the 110-pounder Armstrong breech-loader weighed 107–110 pounds (48.5–49.9 kg). It had a muzzle velocity of 1,150 ft/s (350 m/s) and, at an elevation of 11.25°, a maximum range of 4,000 yards (3,700 m). The 110-pounder gun weighed 9,520 pounds (4,318 kg). All of the guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells.[12]

Achilles was rearmed during her 1867–68 refit with 22 seven-inch and eight 8-inch (203 mm)

seven-inch gun weighed 6.5 long tons (6.6 t) and fired a 112 pounds (50.8 kg) shell. It was credited with the ability to penetrate 7.7-inch (196 mm) armour.[14]

In 1874 the ship was rearmed with 16

gun ports had to be widened to accommodate them. The shell of the 14-calibre nine-inch gun weighed 254 pounds (115.2 kg) while the gun itself weighed 12 long tons (12 t). It had a muzzle velocity of 1,420 ft/s (430 m/s) and was rated with the ability to penetrate a 11.3 inches (287 mm) of wrought iron armour at the muzzle.[14]

Armour

The ship had a wrought-iron waterline armour belt that ran the full length of the ship.

Amidships, it was 4.5 inches (114 mm) thick for a length of 212 feet (64.6 m) and tapered to a thickness of 2.5 inches (64 mm) to the ends of the ship. The armour extended 5 feet 6 inches (1.7 m) below the waterline. The main deck was protected by a strake of armour, also 4.5-inch thick and 212 feet long. To protect against raking fire the upper strake was closed off by 4.5-inch transverse bulkheads at each end.[15]

Construction and career

Achilles, named after the Greek mythological

launched on 23 December 1863. Achilles was completed on 26 November 1864 at the cost of £469,572.[18]

A watercolor drawing of Achilles, 1881

She served in the

Particular Service Squadron which Admiral Geoffrey Hornby took through the Dardanelles at the time of the Russian war scare in June–August 1878 during the Russo-Turkish War. Achilles accidentally collided with the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, HMS Alexandra, on 4 October 1879, but was only lightly damaged by Alexandra's propeller.[19][20] The ship rejoined the Channel Fleet in 1880 and was paid off in 1885.[21]

She lay derelict in the

Fort St Angelo.[22] She was brought home to Chatham that year, and served there as a depot ship under the successive names of Egremont (19 June 1916) and Pembroke (6 June 1919).[16] The ship was sold for scrap on 26 January 1923 to the Granton Shipbreaking Co.[23]

The Achilles in Literature

Charles Dickens offered a short meditation on the construction of HMS Achilles following a visit to Chatham Dockyard in 1863, first published in the weekly magazine All the Year Round on 29 August 1863, and then included in his collection The Uncommercial Traveller. Dickens came away impressed by the experience, and the idea that such a large iron construction could float or move. "To think that this Achilles, monstrous compound of iron tank and oaken chest, can ever swim or roll! To think that any force of wind and wave could ever break her!" [24]

Notes

  1. ^ Ironclad is the all-encompassing term for armoured warships of this period. Armoured frigates were basically designed for the same role as traditional wooden frigates, but this later changed as the size and expense of these ships forced them to be used in the line of battle.

Footnotes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to HMS Achilles (ship, 1863).
  1. ^ a b c d Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 9
  2. ^ Brassey, p. 230
  3. ^ a b c d Parkes, p. 40
  4. ^ a b Ballard, p. 241
  5. ^ Parkes, p. 39
  6. ^ Parkes, pp. 40, 43
  7. ^ Ballard, p. 246
  8. ^ Ballard, pp. 246–47
  9. ^ a b Parkes, p. 42
  10. ^ Ballard, pp. 43–44
  11. ^ Parkes, pp. 39, 41
  12. ^ Lambert, pp. 86–87, 89
  13. ^ Ballard, p. 43
  14. ^ a b Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 6
  15. ^ Parkes, pp. 39, 42
  16. ^ a b Silverstone, p. 207
  17. ^ Ballard, p. 240
  18. ^ Parkes, pp. 39–40
  19. ^ Ballard, pp. 46–47, 236–237
  20. ^ "(untitled)". Morning Post. No. 33471. London. 6 October 1879.
  21. ^ Parkes, p. 43
  22. ^ Fort St Angelo, in the Lonely Planet Guide for Malta and Gozo.
  23. ^ Ballard, p. 47
  24. ^ Dickens, Charles (1905). The Uncommercial Traveler. Chapman & Hall LD.

References

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