HMS Magdala (1870)
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HMS Magdala with awnings rigged
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| History | |
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| Name: | HMS Magdala |
| Namesake: | Battle of Magdala |
| Builder: | Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Company |
| Cost: | £132,400 |
| Laid down: | 6 October 1868 |
| Launched: | 2 March 1870 |
| Completed: | November 1870 |
| Fate: | Broken up, 1904 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Cerberus-class breastwork monitor |
| Displacement: | 3,340 long tons (3,390 t) |
| Length: | 225 ft (68.6 m) (p/p) |
| Beam: | 45 ft (13.7 m) |
| Draught: | 15 ft 3 in (4.6 m) |
| Installed power: | 1,436 ihp (1,071 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shafts, 2 steam engines |
| Speed: | 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Range: | 450 nmi (830 km; 520 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 155 |
| Armament: | 2 × 2 - 10-inch rifled muzzle loaders |
| Armour: |
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HMS Magdala was a Cerberus-class breastwork monitor of the Royal Navy, built specifically to serve as a coastal defence ship for the harbour of Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 1860s. She was ordered by the India Office for the Bombay Marine. The original specifications were thought to be too expensive and a cheaper design was ordered. While limited to harbour defence duties, the breastwork monitors were described by Admiral George Alexander Ballard as being like "full-armoured knights riding on donkeys, easy to avoid but bad to close with." Aside from gunnery practice Magdala remained in Bombay Harbour for her entire career. The ship was sold for scrap in 1903.
In July 1866 the India Office asked for two floating batteries to defend Bombay and the Controller of the Navy, Vice Admiral Spencer Robinson recommended that monitors be used. He recommended a design with 12-inch (305 mm) armour belt and 15 inches (381 mm) protecting the gun turret, armed with the largest possible guns, which would cost £220,000. The India Office thought that this was too expensive and ordered a repeat of HMVS Cerberus instead for only £132,400.
The ships had an length between perpendiculars of 225 feet (68.6 m), a beam of 45 feet (13.7 m), and a draught of 15 feet 3 inches (4.65 m) at deep load. They displaced 3,340 long tons (3,390 t). Their crew consisted of 155 officers and men.
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