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HMS Vanguard (1835)

History
Royal Navy EnsignUK
Name: HMS Vanguard
Ordered: 23 June 1832
Builder: Pembroke Dockyard
Laid down: May 1833
Launched: 25 August 1835
Commissioned: 1837
Renamed: HMS Ajax, 1867
Fate: Broken up, 1875
General characteristics
Class and type: Vanguard class ship of the line
Displacement: 2889 tons (2935.4 tonnes)
Tons burthen: 2609 bm
Length:
  • 190 ft (58 m) (gundeck);
  • 155 ft 3 in (47.3 m) (keel, for tonnage)
Beam: 56 ft 9 in (17.30 m)
Depth of hold: 23 ft 4 in (7.11 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement: 700-750 officers and men (gun crew = 702 men)
Armament:
  • 78 guns (4 July 1832, as ordered):
  • Gundeck: 26 × 32 pdrs (56 cwt), 2 × 68 pdr carronades
  • Upper gundeck: 30 × 32 pdrs (56 cwt)
  • Quarterdeck: 10 × 32 pdrs (25 cwt)
  • Forecastle: 2 × 18 pdrs (42 cwt), 4 × 32 pdr carronades (25 cwt)
  • Poop deck: 4 × 18 pdr carronades (10 cwt)
  • 80 guns (3 December 1834 - as launched):
  • Gundeck: 26 × 32 pdrs (56 cwt), 2 × 68 pdr carronades (60 cwt)
  • Upper gundeck: 26 × 32 pdrs (48 cwt), 2 × 68 pdr carronades (60 cwt)
  • Quarterdeck: 14 × 32 pdrs (48 cwt)
  • Forecastle: 2 × 32 pdrs (48 cwt), 4 × 32 pdr carronades (25 cwt)
  • Poop deck: 4 × 18 pdr carronades (10 cwt)
Notes:
  • Cost to build: £56,983
  • Cost to fit for sea: £20,756

The sixth HMS Vanguard, of the British Royal Navy was an 78-gun (or 80-gun) second-rate ship of the line, launched on 25 August 1835 at Pembroke Yard. She was the first of a new type of sailing battleship: a Symondite.

The Vanguard was designed by John Edye, Chief Clerk in the Surveyor's Office, to the directions of the Surveyor, Captain Sir William Symonds. The Vanguard was the first of a class of eleven. She was ordered from Pembroke Yard in June 1832; HMS Collingwood was ordered 'as a duplicate frame using the moulds of Vanguard, to test the efficacy of an American scheme whereby duplicate frames were stored for many years.'Vanguard was laid down in May 1833; she required 60 skilled men for 16 weeks to set up the frame. She was launched on schedule in August 1835. At the time she was the broadest ship ever built in England.'Vanguard cost £56,983 to build, and a further £20,756 to fit for sea.' Her construction used 3,560 loads of timber and required 186 man-years.

Warships designed to the ideas of Captain Sir William Symonds (1782–1856) are known as Symondite warships, although the adjective has no official use as terminology. His intention was to give the Royal Navy an advantage in speed (under certain weather conditions), allowing it to force action.

Symondite warships were very broad, and had a sharp 'V'-shaped hull-form. (Preceding designs had a 'U'-shaped hull form.)

Symondite warships were very sensitive to how they were stowed. If trimmed carefully, they were fast in moderate winds, thought they did not do as well as preceding designs in head seas, or rough seas.

Compared with previous designs, Symondite warships required 19% more loads of wood and 30% more man-hours to build.

Some of the Symondite warships were converted to steam in the 1850s (though not Vanguard). Their 'V'-shaped hull made it difficult to add a steam engine and boilers and to store coal. The extra weight was low in the ship, exacerbating their excess stability, which made their rolling even worse than before. (In fairness, at the time they were designed, it was never anticipated that they would be converted to steam.)


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