HMS Neptune (1878)

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Career

Class and type:	Unique battleship
Name:	HMS Neptune
Builder:	Dudgeon, Milwall
Laid down:	1873
Launched:	10 September 1874
Acquired:	March 1878
Commissioned:	September 3, 1881
Fate:	Sold on 15 September 1903 and broken up
General characteristics
Displacement:	9,130 tons
Length:	300 ft (91 m) p/p
Beam:	63 ft (19 m)
Draught:	25 ft (7.6 m)
Propulsion:	Two-cylinder Penn horizontal trunk engine, 8 rectangular boilers, 7993 ihp
Speed:	14.22 kn (26.34 km/h)
Range:	524 tons fuel oil 5,700 nmi (10,600 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
Complement:	541
Armament:	4 × 12 in (300 mm) muzzle-loading rifles 2 × 9 in (230 mm) muzzle-loading rifles 6 × 20-pdr breech-loading guns 2 × 14 in (360 mm) torpedo carriers
Armour:	Belt: 9 in (230 mm)–12 in (300 mm) Citadel: 10 in (250 mm) Bulkheads: 8 in (200 mm) Turrets: 11 in (280 mm)–13 in (330 mm)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Neptune.

HMS Neptune was designed by Sir Edward Reed for the Brazilian Navy in 1872, and was given the provisional name Independencia. Together with the two ships of the Belleisle class and HMS Superb, she was compulsorily purchased by the British Government at the time of the Russian war scare of 1878.

Her construction was delayed by two failed launches, the second of which caused damage to the hull which required major repairs. She was completed in December 1877 and purchased by the Royal Navy in March 1878. Neptune was then taken to Portsmouth for alterations to her armament and other equipment.

Neptune was barque-rigged, but this rig proved useless and was removed in 1886. Neptune also proved a poor seakeeper, and after a short period in Channel service, was relocated to the Mediterranean. She paid off into reserve in 1893 and was sold for breaking up on 15 September 1903 and was scrapped in Germany.