HMS Victoria (1859)

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HMS Victoria was the ultimate British wooden first rate three-decker ship of the line.

With a displacement of 6.959 tons, she was the largest wooden battleship which ever entered service. Also, she was the world´s largest warship until the completion of the Warrior, Britain´s first ironclad battleship, in 1861.

Victoria´s hull was 79.2 meters long and 18.3 meters wide. She had a medium draught of 8.4 meters. Her hull was heavily strapped with diagonal iron riders for extra stability. Victoria was the first british battleship with two funnels.

She was armed with a total of 121 Guns (32 8-inch guns on the lower gun deck, 30 8-inch guns on the central gun deck, 32 32-pounders on the upper gun deck, 26 32-pounders and one 68-pounder on the upper deck).

Victoria was ordered on 06.01.1855, laid down on 01.04.1856 at Portsmouth, and launched on 12.11.1859. She cost a total of 150.578 Pounds andf had a complement of 1.000.

During trials in Stokes Bay on 05.07.1860 Victoria reached a top speed of 11,797 Knots, making her the fastest three decker worldwide. Her Maudslay engine was powered by 8 boilers and developed 4.403 iHP.

After completition Victoria was laid up as part of the reserve fleet at Portsmouth from 1860 to 1864.

She first entered active service on 02.11.1964, when she became Flagship of the Mediterranean fleet under Vice-Admiral Smart and Capitain Goodenough (from 1865: Rear-Admiral Lord Clarence Paget, Captain Gardner). Victoria was based Malta until 1867 when she returned home. Her armament had been reduced to 102 guns.

Her last public appearance came at the 1867 Spitehead Review and she was paid off on 07.08.1867. She became part of the reserve fleet at portsmouth again, eventually had her armament reduced to 12 Guns, and was sold for scrapping on 31.05.1893 without ever having entered service again.

Victoria´s slightly enlarged sister ship, HMS Howe, was launched on 07.03.1860, but was never completed as a battleship. She fist entered service in 1885 as a training ship at Plymouth, renamed Bulwark (6.557 tons, 12 Guns). She was moved to Devonport and renamed Impregnable in 1886. Renamed Bulwark in 1919, she was finally sold for scrap in 1921.

See HMS Victoria for other ships of the same name.

[edit] Sources

Andrew Lambert: "Battleships in Transition" (published by Conway Maritime Press Ltd, 1984), ISBN 0 85177 315 X

• [1]NAVIES IN TRANSITION:The perfecting of the wooden man-of-war in the context of early 19th century international politics. A small guide to surviving and reconstructed 19th century warships from the pre-ironclad era in naval architecture. By Dirk J. Vries

• [2]Battleships-Cruisers Naval History website.