HMS Nile (1888)

Nile at anchor, before 1897
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Nile
Namesake:	Battle of the Nile
Builder:	Pembroke Dockyard
Laid down:	8 April 1886
Launched:	27 March 1888
Completed:	10 July 1891
Commissioned:	30 June 1891
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 9 July 1912
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	Trafalgar-class ironclad battleship
Displacement:	12,590 long tons (12,790 t)
Length:	345 ft (105.2 m) (pp)
Beam:	73 ft (22.3 m)
Draught:	28 ft 6 in (8.7 m)
Installed power:	12,000 ihp (8,900 kW) 6 cylindrical boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts; 2 Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Range:	6,300 nmi (11,700 km; 7,200 mi) @ 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	537 (1903)
Armament:	4 × BL 13.5-inch (343 mm) guns 6 × QF 4.7 inch (120 mm) guns 8 × QF 6-pdr 2.2 in (57 mm) Hotchkiss guns 9 × QF 3-pdr 1.9 in (47 mm) Hotchkiss guns 4 × 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Belt: 20–14 in (508–356 mm) Bulkheads: 16–14 in (406–356 mm) Armoured citadel: 16–18 in (406–457 mm) Gun turrets: 18 in (457 mm) Conning tower: 14 in (356 mm) Secondary Battery: 4–5 in (102–127 mm) Deck: 3 in (76 mm)
Service record
Part of:	Mediterranean Fleet (1891–1898) Devonport guard ship (1898–1903)

HMS Nile was one of two Trafalgar-class ironclad battleships built for the Royal Navy during the 1880s. Late deliveries of her main guns delayed her commissioning until 1891 and she spent most of the decade with the Mediterranean Fleet. Nile returned home in 1898 and became the coast guard ship at Devonport for five years before she was placed in reserve in 1903. The ship was sold for scrap in 1912 and broken up at Swansea, Wales.

The design of the Trafalgar-class ships was derived from the layout of the earlier ironclad battleship Dreadnought and the Admiral class, coupled with the heavy armour of the preceding Victoria class. The Trafalgars displaced 12,590 long tons (12,790 t); the addition of more armour and ammunition during construction added an additional 650 long tons (660 t) of weight and increased their draught by a foot (0.3 m) below their designed waterline. They had a length between perpendiculars of 345 feet (105.2 m), a beam of 73 feet (22.3 m), and a draught of 28 feet 6 inches (8.7 m).Nile's crew consisted of 537 officers and ratings in 1903 and 527 two years later. The low freeboard of the Trafalgars made them very wet and they could not maintain full speed except in a calm.