HMS Agamemnon (1852)

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HMS Agamemnon - Royal Navy battleship ordered by the Admiralty in 1849 in response to the perceived threat from France by their possession of ships of the Napoleon class. She was the first British battleship to be designed and built from the keel up with installed steam power, although, due to the inefficiency of steam engines of the period, it was expected that she would spend much of her time travelling under sail power. She therefore carried a full square rig on three masts, in common with large sailing warships of the period.

She carried an armament of muzzle loading smooth-bore cannon, as usual for warships at this time, on two decks. She was completed in 1852.

She was not the first British battleship to be completed with steam power; HMS Sans Pareil, a pre-existing square-rigged second-rate, was converted to ancillary steam power (retaining her rig) and completed in 1851.

Between 1857 and 1858, the Agamemnon was equipped as a cable ship and laid the eastern half of the first Transatlantic telegraph cable.

[edit] References

• British Battleships Dr. Oscar Parkes O.B.E., A.I.N.A. (1957) Octopus Publishing Group