HMS Resistance (1861)

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Career (UK) RN Ensign
Ordered: 14 December 1859
Builder: Westwood & Baillie, Poplar
Laid down: 21 December 1859
Launched: 11 April 1861
Completed: 5 October 1862
Commissioned: 2 July 1862
Fate: Sold for scrap 11 November 1898
General characteristics
Class and type: Defence class battleship
Displacement: 6,070 tons
Length: 280 ft (85 m) pp,
302 ft (92 m) overall
Beam: 54 ft 2 in (16.5 m)
Draught: 24 ft 6 in (7.5 m) forward, 26 ft (7.9 m) aft
Propulsion: Single-shaft Penn trunk engines; I.H.P 2.540
Sail plan: Barque rig, sail area 24,500 sq ft (2,280 m²).
Speed: 10.75 knots (19.9 km/h) under power
10.5 knots (19.4 km/h) under sail
Complement: 460
Armament: 6 × 7 inch breech-loaders
10 × 68 pounders
2 × 32 pounders
After 1867 refit:
2 × 8 inch muzzle-loading rifles
14 × 7 inch muzzle-loading rifles
Armour: 4.5 inch with 18-inch (460 mm) teak backing
4.5 inch bulkheads

HMS Resistance was the second and last ship of the Defence Class to be commissioned. She served in the Channel from 1862 to 1864, and was then posted to the Mediterranean, where she was the first British ironclad to see service. She paid off in Portsmouth in 1867 for a two-year refit and re-armament.

From 1869 until 1873 she served as guardship in the Mersey, and was then re-commissioned into the Channel Fleet, where she served until 1877. She formed part of the Particular Service Squadron during the Russian war scare of 1878, reverting thereafter to Mersey guardship. Her active service finished in 1880 when she finally paid off and was partly stripped and dismantled at Devonport.

In 1885 she was used as a target in the testing of torpedoes and gunfire. She survived this, to be sold for scrapping on 11 November 1898. She foundered in Holyhead Bay on 4 March 1899, but was raised and taken to pieces at Garston, Liverpool in 1900.

[edit] References

  • David Lyon and Rif Winfield, The Sail and Steam Navy List, 1815 to 1889 (2004) ISBN 1-86176-032-9