HMS Vanguard (1870)
HMS Vanguard
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Vanguard |
| Builder: | Laird, Son & Co., Birkenhead |
| Laid down: | 21 October 1867 |
| Launched: | 3 January 1870 |
| Commissioned: | 28 September 1870 |
| Fate: | Sunk in accident on 1 September 1875 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Audacious-class ironclad battleship |
| Displacement: | 6,034 long tons (6,131 t) |
| Length: | 342 ft 3 in (104.32 m) |
| Beam: | 54 ft (16 m) |
| Draught: | 23 ft 2 in (7.06 m) |
| Installed power: | 4,830 ihp (3,600 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Speed: | 13 kn (15 mph; 24 km/h) |
| Complement: | 450 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: | |
| Notes: | Armour is iron plating with teak backing. |
| Service record | |
| Part of: | First Reserve Squadron 1870-1875 |
The eighth HMS Vanguard of the British Royal Navy was an Audacious-class central battery ironclad battleship, launched in 1870.
Vanguard — under the command of Captain Richard Dawkins, sailed out of Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) harbour on 27 August 1875 in company with three other ironclads, Warrior, Hector and Iron Duke. The ships were part of the First Reserve Squadron and were on a summer cruise around the Irish coast. The squadron — under the command of Admiral Tarleton, was en route to Queenstown (Cobh), County Cork where the cruise would finish. As they passed the Kish lightship, a heavy fog came down which restricted visibility to less than a ship's length.
Vanguard's sister ship — Iron Duke — noticed she was drifting off course and began returning to her proper station. A problem with her steam plant meant that her foghorn was inoperable, and could not be used to alert the other vessels of her position or course.
At about 12:50, a look-out on Vanguard spotted a sailing ship directly ahead. As Vanguard turned to avoid it, Iron Duke appeared out of the fog on her port side less than 40 yd (40 m) away. Collision was unavoidable. Iron Duke's underwater ram tore open Vanguard's hull near her boilers.
Iron Duke freed herself after a few minutes, sustaining only minor damage. Vanguard, however, was sinking. Her pumps could move water at a rate of 3,000 lb/min (23 kg/s) but the flooding exceeded 50 long tons per minute (847 kg/s). The pumps were powered by the engines, which shut down ten minutes after the collision when the engine room flooded.
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Wikipedia