HMS Raleigh (1873)
_and_Serapis(1866).jpg)
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| Name: | HMS Raleigh |
| Builder: | Chatham Dockyard, Kent |
| Laid down: | 8 February 1871 |
| Launched: | 1 March 1873 |
| Completed: | June 1874 |
| Commissioned: | 11 July 1874 |
| Struck: | 1901 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 11 July 1905 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Unarmored screw frigate |
| Tonnage: | 3,215 bm |
| Displacement: | 5,200 long tons (5,283 t) |
| Length: | 298 ft (91 m) |
| Beam: | 49 ft (15 m) |
| Draught: | 24 ft 10 in (7.57 m) |
| Installed power: | 5,640 ihp (4,206 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 1 shaft, 1 Steam engine, 9 boilers |
| Sail plan: | ship rig |
| Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Range: | 2,100 nmi (3,900 km; 2,400 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 530 |
| Armament: | |
HMS Raleigh was an unarmoured iron or "sheathed" masted frigate completed in 1874. She was one of a series of three designed by Sir Edward Reed. The other two iron-hulled frigates (the three were not sisters) were HMS Inconstant and HMS Shah. The Controller originally intended to build six of these big frigates, but only three were ordered in view of their high cost. They retained the traditional broadside layout of armament, with a full rig of masts and sails. Although widely believed to be named after Sir Walter Raleigh, the ship was in fact named for George of Raleigh.
The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the Raleigh and the other two iron frigates. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. (Note that costs quoted by J.W. King were in US dollars.)
*Date first commissioned.
Raleigh displaced 5,200 tons and was 298 feet long (between perpendiculars) by 49 feet wide, and drew 24 feet 7 inches. She was designed as a sailing vessel with an auxiliary steam engine. Under favourable sailing conditions she could make 13 knots (24 km/h). With 9 boilers operating at 30 pounds per square inch, her 1-shaft horizontal single expansion engine developed 5,639 horsepower (4,205 kW) and moved her along at 16.2 knots (30.0 km/h), an unprecedented speed at the time.
Two 9-inch muzzle-loading rifle (MLR) guns and fourteen 7-inch 90 cwt MLR guns formed the main armament, supplemented by six 64-pounder MLRs. The 9-inch guns were chase weapons, mounted at front and back. The fourteen 7-inch guns were the main deck broadside battery.
These ships were constructed in response to the fast, wooden American Wampanoag-class frigates, and their iron hulls were clad from keel to bulwarks with a double layer of 3-inch timber. Raleigh was copper bottomed. All three had a great range and were designed for use in far seas.
The ship was intended as a successor to the wooden steam-frigates such as Immortalite and Ariadne. Inconstant and Shah had been considered by some too large and too expensive, so Raleigh was designed slightly smaller. The design was a compromise between steam power and a desire to retain good sailing properties. The propeller was damaged during steam trials, breaking one blade and cracking the other, but she proceeded to sailing trials around Ireland before repairs were made. George Tryon, appointed her first captain, made a number of minor alterations to her design details as she was completing building.
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Wikipedia