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HMS Caledonia (1862)

HMS Caledonia (1862) from Army and Navy Illustrated.jpg
History
Name: HMS Caledonia
Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down: 10 October 1860
Launched: 24 October 1862
Completed: July 1865
Fate: Broken up, 1886
General characteristics
Class and type: Prince Consort-class ironclad
Displacement: 6,832 long tons (6,942 t)
Length:
  • As built : 252 ft (77 m)
  • After 1866 : 273 ft (83 m)
Beam:
  • As built : 57 ft (17 m)
  • After 1866 : 58 ft 6 in (17.83 m)
Draught:
  • As built : 25 ft (7.6 m) light
  • 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) deep load
  • After 1866 : 24 ft (7.3 m) light
  • 26 ft 9 in (8.15 m) deep load
Propulsion:
  • One-shaft Maudsley horizontal reciprocating
  • 3,750 ihp (2,796 kW)
Sail plan: Single-topsail barque, sail area 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m2)
Speed:
  • 12.5 knots (14.4 mph; 23.2 km/h) under power
  • 11.5 knots (13.2 mph; 21.3 km/h) under sail
Complement: 605
Armament:
Armour: Battery and belt: 4.5 in (110 mm) amidships and 3 in (76 mm) fore and aft

HMS Caledonia was a broadside ironclad of the Prince Consort class. Originally laid down as a two-decker steam ship of the line of the Bulwark class, Caledonia was converted on the building stocks into an armoured frigate.

HMS Caledonia was not completed until July 1865 due to a delay in the delivery of her main armament. Once this was installed, she was commissioned as Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, becoming the first ever armoured flagship of the Royal Navy.

She was temporarily withdrawn from service in 1866 for reconstruction which involved the addition of a poop deck. Following this, she was flagship of the Channel Fleet until 1867, when she was paid off for re-armament.

HMS Caledonia was flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet until 1869 (relieving HMS Victoria, the last three-deck Royal Navy flagship) until 1872. She was a guardship in the Firth of Forth from 1872 until 1875. She was paid off at Plymouth, and was laid up there until she was sold on 30 September 1886.


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