HMS Prince Consort (1862)

History
Name:	HMS Prince Consort
Builder:	Pembroke Dock
Laid down:	13 Aug 1860
Launched:	26 June 1862
Completed:	April 1864
Fate:	Broken up, 1882
General characteristics
Class & type:	Prince Consort-class ironclad
Displacement:	6,832 long tons (6,942 t)
Length:	As built : 252 ft (77 m) After 1861 : 273 ft (83 m)
Beam:	As built : 57 ft (17 m) After 1861 : 58 ft 6 in (17.83 m)
Draught:	As built : 25 ft (7.6 m) After 1861 : 24 ft (7.3 m)
Propulsion:	One-shaft Maudsley 1,000 nhp
Sail plan:	Double-topsail barque; sail area 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m2)
Speed:	12.5 knots (14.4 mph; 23.2 km/h) under power 10 knots (12 mph; 19 km/h) under sail
Complement:	605
Armament:	1864 : 7 × 7 in (180 mm) breech-loading Armstrong rifles 8 × 100-pounder smoothbore 16 ×68-pounder smoothbore guns 1867 : 4 × 8 in (200 mm) muzzle-loading rifles 20 × 7 in (180 mm) muzzle-loading rifles 1871 : 7 × 9-inch (229 mm) muzzle-loading rifles 8 × 8 in (200 mm) muzzle-loading rifles
Armour:	Battery and belt: 4.5 in (110 mm) amidships and 3 in (76 mm) fore and aft

HMS Prince Consort was laid down at Pembroke as the 91-gun second-rate steam ship of the line HMS Triumph, but her name was changed in February 1862 in memory of the recently deceased Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Her first posting after commissioning was to Liverpool; on her passage there, in an Irish Sea gale, it was found that she did not have enough scuppers fitted to discharge seawater coming aboard, and almost foundered. She served in the Channel Fleet from 1864 until 1867, when she was paid off to re-arm. From 1867 to 1871 she formed part of the Mediterranean Fleet, until she was brought home for a further re-armament. Notwithstanding this expense, she saw no further sea service, and by 1882 had fallen into disrepair, and was sold.

Prince Consort was widely regarded as being the second-worse roller in the entire Fleet, being exceeded in this only by HMS Lord Clyde.

Notes

Footnotes

References

• Ballard, G. A., Admiral (1980). The Black Battlefleet. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-924-3. 
• Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4. 
• Parkes, Oscar (1990). British Battleships (reprint of the 1957 ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-075-4. 
• Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0. 
• Reed, E. J. (1869). Our Iron-Clad Ships: Their Qualities, Performance and Cost. London: John Murray. OCLC 7944535.