HMS Defence (1861)
_after_1866.jpg)
HMS Defence as she appeared after the final conversion of her rig in 1866.
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Defence |
| Ordered: | 14 December 1859 |
| Builder: | Palmers, Jarrow |
| Laid down: | 14 December 1859 |
| Launched: | 24 April 1861 |
| Completed: | 12 February 1862 |
| Commissioned: | 4 December 1861 |
| Renamed: | HMS Indus 1898 |
| Fate: | Sold, August 1935 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Defence-class armoured frigate |
| Displacement: | 6,070 long tons (6,170 t) |
| Length: | 280 ft (85.3 m) |
| Beam: | 54 ft 2 in (16.5 m) |
| Draught: | 26 ft 2 in (8.0 m) |
| Installed power: | |
| Propulsion: | 1 shaft; 1 Trunk steam engine |
| Sail plan: | Ship rig |
| Speed: | 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Range: | 1,670 nmi (3,090 km; 1,920 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 460 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: | |
HMS Defence was the lead ship of the Defence-class armoured frigates ordered by the Royal Navy in 1859. Upon completion in 1862 she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. The ship was paid off in 1866 to refit and be re-armed and was briefly reassigned to the Channel Fleet when she recommissioned in 1868. Defence had brief tours on the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Stations, relieving other ironclads, from 1869 to 1872 before she was refitted again from 1872 to 1874. She became guard ship on the Shannon when she recommissioned. The ship was transferred to the Channel Fleet again in 1876 and then became guard ship on the Mersey until 1885. Defence was placed in until 1890 when she was assigned to the mechanical training school in Devonport in 1890. She was renamed Indus when the school adopted that name and served there until sold in 1935.
The Defence-class ironclads were designed as smaller and cheaper versions of the Warrior-class armoured frigates. This meant that they could not fit the same powerful engines of the Warrior-class ships and were therefore 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) slower and had far fewer guns. The naval architect Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, a future Constructor of the Navy, considered that in terms of combat a Defence-class ship was worth one quarter of a Warrior.
HMS Defence was 280 feet (85.3 m) long between perpendiculars and 291 feet 4 inches (88.80 m) long overall. She had a beam of 54 feet 2 inches (16.51 m) and a draft of 26 feet 2 inches (8.0 m). The ship displaced 6,070 long tons (6,170 t) and had a ram in the shape of a plough. The hull was subdivided by watertight transverse bulkheads into 92 compartments and had a double bottom underneath the engine and boiler rooms. Defence was 128 feet 8 inches (39.2 m) shorter overall and displaced over 3,000 long tons (3,000 t) less than the Warrior-class ironclads.
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