HMS Shah was an unarmoured iron hulled frigate |
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| Career (United Kingdom) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Shah |
| Namesake: | Shah of Persia |
| Owner: | Royal Navy |
| Builder: | Portsmouth Dockyard |
| Laid down: | 7 March 1870 |
| Launched: | 10 September 1873 |
| Commissioned: | 14 august 1876 |
| Out of service: | December 1904 |
| Fate: | Converted to Coal Storage Hulk C.470 Sold 19 September 1919 Wrecked in Bermuda 1926 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Iron-Hulled, wooden Sheathed Frigate |
| Complement: | 469 officers and men 46 boys 87 Marines |
| Armament: | 2 x 9-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns 16 x 7 inch 6½ ton rifled muzzle-loading guns 8 x 5-inch breech-loading guns 3 x Quick-firing Guns 12 x Machine guns 4 x Torpedo Launcher |
The first HMS Shah was a 19th century unarmoured iron hulled, wooden sheathed frigate of Britain's Royal Navy designed by Sir Edward Reed. She was originally to be named HMS Blonde but was renamed following the visit of the Shah of Persia in 1873.
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The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the Shah and the other two iron frigates: Inconstant and Raleigh. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. (Note that costs quoted by J.W. King were in US dollars.)
| Ship | Builder | Maker of Engines |
Date of | Cost according to | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laid Down | Launch | Completion | BNA 1887[1] | King[2] | |||||
| Hull | Machinery | Total excluding armament |
|||||||
| Inconstant | Pembroke Dockyard | John Penn & Son | 27 Nov 1866 | 12 Nov 1868 | 14 Aug 1869 * | £138,585 | £74,739 | £213,324 | $1,036,756 |
| Raleigh | Chatham Dockyard | Humphrys, Tennant & Co | 8 Feb 1871 | 1 Mar 1873 | 13 Jan 1874 * | £147,248 | £46,138 | £193,386 | $939,586 |
| Shah | Portsmouth Dockyard | Ravenhill | 7 Mar 1870 | 10 Sep 1873 | 14 Aug 1876 | £177,912 | £57,333 | £235,245 | $1,119,861 |
*Date first commissioned.[3][4]
Her complement was 469 officers and men, 46 boys and 87 marines.
As at 1888, Shah's armament consisted of two 9-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns, sixteen 7 inch 6½ ton rifled muzzle-loading guns, eight 5-inch breech-loading guns, 3 quick-firing guns, twelve machine-guns and four torpedo launchers.[5]
She was only in service for three years, as the flagship of the British Pacific Station under Admiral de Horsey. She fought an action, the Battle of Pacocha, in company with the corvette HMS Amethyst on 29 May 1877 with the Peruvian armoured turret ship Huáscar which had been taken over by rebels opposed to the Peruvian Government and, it was feared, could be used to attack British shipping.
The armoured Huáscar proved virtually impenetrable to the British guns, but the two unarmoured British ships the Shah and the Amethyst had to keep clear of the Huáscar’s turret guns. In the course of the action the Shah fired the first torpedo to be used in anger, although it missed – being outrun by Huáscar.
During her time as flagship she also visited Pitcairn Island. On her voyage home she was diverted to South Africa to assist in the Anglo-Zulu War.
In December 1904 the ship was converted to a coal storage hulk and renamed C.470. The hulk was sold on 19 September 1919, and subsequently wrecked in 1926 at Bermuda.[6]
There is a monument to the ship's crew men in Victoria Park, Portsmouth.