Hector class ironclad

Line drawing from Brassey's Naval Annual 1888
Class overview
Operators:	Royal Navy
Preceded by:	Defence-class ironclad
Succeeded by:	HMS Achilles
Built:	1861–1868
In commission:	1864–1886
Completed:	2
Scrapped:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Armoured frigate
Displacement:	7,000 long tons (7,100 t)
Length:	280 ft 2 in (85.4 m)
Beam:	56 ft 5 in (17.2 m)
Draught:	26 ft 2 in (8.0 m)
Installed power:	3,260–3,560 ihp (2,430–2,650 kW) 6 boilers
Propulsion:	1 shaft 1 horizontal return connecting-rod steam engine
Sail plan:	Barque-rig
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Range:	800 nmi (1,500 km; 920 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	530
Armament:	As built: 4 × 7-inch Armstrong breech-loaders 20 × 68-pounder smoothbore muzzle-loading guns From 1868: 16 × 7-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns 2 × 8-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns
Armour:	Belt: 2.5–4.5 in (64–114 mm) Bulkheads: 4.5 in (114 mm)

The Hector-class ironclads were a pair of armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the 1860s. Hector was completed in 1864 and assigned to the Channel Fleet until she began a refit in 1867. Valiant's builder went bankrupt and delayed her launching by a year. The ship then had to wait almost another five years to receive her guns and be commissioned. Both ships were assigned to the Reserve Fleet from 1868 until they were paid off in 1885–86. They were mobilized during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, but saw no action. They were hulked in the late 1890s and assigned to shore establishments. Hector was scrapped in 1905, but Valiant was converted into a floating oil tank in 1926 until she was sold for scrap in 1956.

The Hector-class ironclads, like their immediate predecessors, the Defence class, were designed as smaller and cheaper versions of the Warrior-class armoured frigates. They were modified versions of the Defence class with additional armour and more powerful engines.

The ships were 280 feet 2 inches (85.4 m) long between perpendiculars, had a beam of 56 feet 5 inches (17.2 m) and a draft of 26 feet 2 inches (8.0 m). They were 300 long tons (300 t) overweight and displaced 7,000 long tons (7,100 t). The hull was subdivided by watertight transverse bulkheads into 92 compartments and had a double bottom underneath the engine and boiler rooms. The ships were designed with a very low centre of gravity and had a metacentric height of 4 feet 6 inches (1.4 m). While handy in manoeuvring they rolled quite badly. The ships had a crew of 530 officers and enlisted men.