HMS Northumberland (1866)

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

Northumberland in her original 5-masted configuration
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Northumberland
NamesakeNorthumberland
Ordered2 September 1861
BuilderMillwall Iron Works, Millwall, London
Cost£444,256
Laid down10 October 1861
Launched17 April 1866
Completed8 October 1868
CommissionedOctober 1868
Decommissioned1898
Out of service
Hulked
, 1909
Renamed
  • Acheron, 1898
  • C.8, 1909
  • C.68, 1926
  • Stedmound, 1927
ReclassifiedTraining ship, 1898
Stricken1927
Fate
General characteristics (as completed)
Class and type
armoured frigate
Displacement10,584 long tons (10,754 t)
Length400 ft 4 in (122.0 m) p/p
Beam59 ft 5 in (18.1 m)
Draught27 ft 9 in (8.5 m)
Installed power
Propulsion1 shaft, 1
Trunk steam engine
Sail plan5-masted
Speed14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Range2,825 nmi (5,232 km; 3,251 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement800
Armament
  • 4 ×
    9-inch (230 mm) rifled muzzle-loading guns
  • 22 ×
    8-inch (200 mm) rifled muzzle-loaders
  • 2 ×
    7-inch (180 mm) rifled muzzle-loaders
Armour

HMS Northumberland was the last of the three

hulk in 1909 and sold in 1927, although the ship was not scrapped
until 1935.

Design and description

The Minotaur-class armoured frigates

broadside ironclad layout of their predecessor, but their sides were fully armoured to protect the 50 guns they were designed to carry. Their plough-shaped ram was also more prominent than that of Achilles.[1]

Northumberland was 400 feet 4 inches (122.0 m)

boiler rooms. The ship was considered "a steady gun platform, able to maintain her speed in a seaway and satisfactory in manoeuvre".[3] She was authorized a crew of 705 officers and ratings, but actually carried 800 men.[4]

Propulsion

Model of her engines

Northumberland had a two-cylinder

trunk steam engine, made by John Penn and Sons, driving a single propeller using steam provided by 10 rectangular fire-tube boilers. It produced a total of 6,558 indicated horsepower (4,890 kW) during the ship's sea trials on 15 September 1868 and Northumberland had a maximum speed of 14.1 knots (26.1 km/h; 16.2 mph).[5] The ships normally carried 750 long tons (760 t) of coal, but had a maximum capacity of 1,400 long tons (1,400 t),[4] enough to steam 2,825 nautical miles (5,232 km; 3,251 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[6]

Originally designed with three masts, Northumberland was fitted with five masts until her 1875–79 refit when two were removed and she was re-rigged as a barque.[7] Northumberland only made 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) under sail,[8] mainly because the ship's propeller could only be disconnected and not hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag, the worst speed of any ironclad of her era.[9] Admiral George A. Ballard described the Minotaur-class ships as "the dullest performers under canvas of the whole masted fleet of their day, and no ships ever carried so much dress to so little purpose."[10]

Armament

Northumberland's gun deck, showing her eight-inch guns

Unlike her half-sisters, Northumberland was armed with a mix of seven-inch (178 mm), eight-inch (203 mm), and nine-inch (229 mm)

seven-inch guns were mounted in the stern on the main deck, also as chase guns.[11]

The nine-inch gun was credited with the ability to penetrate 11.3 inches (287 mm) of

muzzle. The eight-inch gun could penetrate 9.6-inch (244 mm) of armour and the seven-inch gun could penetrate 7.7 inches (196 mm).[12]

Northumberland was partially rearmed in 1875 with an armament of 7 nine-inch guns, 4 on the main deck, 2 forward chase guns and 1 rear chase gun. Two eight-inch guns replaced the seven-inchers on the main deck at the stern; the other 18 eight-inch guns remained where they were. In 1886 two six inches (152 mm) breech-loading guns replaced two eight-inch guns.

QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns, and six machine guns were later added.[13]

Armour

Unlike her half-sisters, the entire side of Northumberland's

amidships. The armour extended 5 feet 9 inches (1.8 m) below the waterline. The sides of the battery were 184.5 feet (56.2 m) long and it was protected by 5.5-inch armour on all sides, including transverse bulkheads fore and aft of the guns. The two forward chase guns on the upper deck were also protected by armoured bulkheads, but the stern chase guns on that same deck were entirely unprotected. The armour was backed by 10 inches (254 mm) of teak. The ship also had a conning tower protected by 4.5-inch armour plates.[14]

Construction and service

Northumberland, named after the

pontoons on 17 April 1866 proved successful. Her builders went into bankruptcy while the ship was being launched and the liquidators seized Northumberland as a company asset once she was in the water. Eight months passed before the Admiralty could take possession and begin fitting out the ship. She was commissioned in October 1868 and completed on 8 October for a cost a total of £444,256.[16]

Northumberland in three-masted configuration, 1890

The ship's first posting was to the Channel Squadron, where she remained until 1873. Her first captain, Roderick Dew, had all of her

floating drydock from England to Madeira where it would be picked up by Warrior and Black Prince and taken to Bermuda. The ships departed the Nore on 23 June 1869, loaded down with 500 long tons (510 t) of coal stowed in bags on their gun decks, and transferred the floating dock 11 days later after an uneventful voyage.[17]

The Foul of HMS 'Hercules' and 'Northumberland' in Funchal Roadstead, Madeira

She was anchored at Funchal, Madeira, on Christmas Day 1872, when a storm parted her anchor chain and the ship drifted onto the ram bow of the ironclad Hercules. Northumberland was seriously damaged below the waterline, with one compartment flooded, though she was able to steam to Malta for repairs.[17]

While her half-sister

William Hewett and John Baird, successive commanders of the Channel Squadron, upon her completion in 1887.[18]

Northumberland was assigned to the 1st Reserve Squadron at the

stokers' training ship at the Nore and renamed Acheron on 1 January 1904. From 1909 to 1927 the ship served as a coal hulk at Invergordon, renamed C.8 in 1909 and then C.68 in 1926. The ship was sold in 1927, but was then resold and renamed as Stedmound for service at Dakar until she was scrapped in 1935.[19]

Relics

Two large 1870s half-scale models of the ship are at the Museum of London Docklands.[20]

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 Northumberland.
  1. ^ Parkes, pp. 60–61
  2. ^ Ballard, p. 241
  3. ^ Parkes, pp. 60, 67
  4. ^ a b Parkes, p. 64
  5. ^ Ballard, pp. 28, 246–47
  6. ^ Silverstone, p. 157
  7. ^ Parkes, p. 66
  8. ^ Parkes, p. 63
  9. ^ Ballard, p. 38
  10. ^ Ballard, p. 26
  11. ^ a b Parkes, p. 65
  12. ^ Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 6
  13. ^ Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 10
  14. ^ Parkes, pp. 64–65
  15. ^ Silverstone, p. 254
  16. ^ Ballard, pp. 39, 240; Parkes, pp. 64–65
  17. ^ a b Ballard, p. 41
  18. ^ Ballard, pp. 41–42
  19. ^ Ballard, p. 42; Parkes, p. 67
  20. ^ "Port and river collection". Museum of London Docklands. Retrieved 17 June 2013.

References

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