HMS Atlas (1860)
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | Atlas |
| Owner: | Royal Navy |
| Builder: | Chatham Dockyard |
| Way number: | No. 6 Slip |
| Laid down: | 1858 |
| Launched: | 21 July 1860 |
| In service: | 1861 (in reserve) |
| Out of service: | 1885 |
| Fate: | Sold 1885 |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | Atlas |
| Owner: | Metropolitan Asylums Board |
| Acquired: | 1885 |
| In service: | 1881 |
| Out of service: | 1904 |
| Homeport: | Deptford |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1904 |
| General characteristics | |
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| Tonnage: | 3,318 Tons BOM |
| Displacement: | 5,260 Tons |
| Length: | 245 ft (74.68 m) |
| Decks: | Two decks |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine, screw propeller |
| Complement: | 860 (planned) |
| Armament: |
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HMS Atlas was a 91-gun second rate ship which was never completed and spent her entire service in reserve or as a hospital ship. She was launched in 1860 and lent to the Metropolitan Asylums Board for use as a hospital ship in 1881 and sold to them in 1885. Atlas served until 1904, when she was sold for breaking.
Atlas was 245 feet (74.68 m) long. She was to have been driven by a screw propeller. Had she been completed, her complement would have been 860 men.
A sister ship to HMS Renown,Atlas was to have been a 91-gun second rate ship of the line. She was built at Chatham Dockyard, Kent. Laid down in 1858,Atlas was one of the ships under construction at Chatham that were inspected by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty on 23 August 1859. Built on No. 6 Slip, Atlas was launched on 21 July 1860. The christening was performed by Mrs Schomberg, wife of Captain Schomberg. On 24 July, Atlas was taken to Sheerness to be fitted with her 800 horsepower (600 kW) steam engines. By April 1861, Atlas was undergoing trials under steam.
Atlas was initially earmarked for the Channel Fleet. Atlas was placed in reserve, in 1861 at Sheerness. She was reduced to 54 guns in 1870. In 1874, Atlas was transferred to Chatham Dockyard. She was totally disarmed in 1879.
In June 1881, the Lords of the Admiralty agreed to lend Atlas and Endymion to the Metropolitan Asylums Board along with a steam pinnace, due to an outbreak of smallpox. Atlas was to be converted into a hospital ship for 250 patients. A third hospital ship was the Castaliâ. The Metropolitan Asylums Board was to insure Atlas and Endymion for £11,000 and £8,000 respectively. There was opposition to the proposed use of Atlas from the Thames Conservancy and other public and private bodies. Agreement had been made to lease a berth at Deptford, Kent but when the managers of a company with premises nearby learned of the proposed use of Atlas as an isolation hospital, they put pressure on the owners of the berth with the result that the owners then decided not to allow Atlas to be berthed there.
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Wikipedia