Audacious class ironclad (1869)

Central Battery Ironclad, in service .

The Audacious class…

HMS Iron Duke in Bergen, visited by the Kaiser.

Development

The Admiralty since 1859 and the knowlege Napoleon III was built a fleet of ironclads, sparked a new naval arms race betwene Britain and France. The first happened at the time of the Crimean war, with the conversion or construction of steal-driven, propeller-powered ships of the line. The second was about ironclads. But in the 1860s, France, which had the second largest colonial Empire after Britain started to have a policy of sending ironclads dedicated to the defence of these distant outposts. To answer this new French policy, the British Admiralty needed to answer. On the other hand, two turret ships, HMS Monarch, then under construction, and HMS Captain just authorised, had been ordered under pressure of Coles and the press. The Admiralty, was cautious about this new type, and decided to await the assessment of Monarch and Captain before stopping the construction of broadside ironclad. The new ships would be provided under the 1867 estimates.

It was also decided that the next class of classic broadside ironclad would see service in colonial stations. Given the limited efficiency of steam engines at the time, they would have a full sailing rig. At the time, the naval constructor was Sir Edward Reed. Her milited that for fully rigged ships, central battery was superior to full broadside ships, as they would be unobstructed by masts and rigging. Both Reed and the Admiralty were however in total agreement abut avoiding a turret-mounted artillery, facing a vituperant, press-agitating Coles. Reed advised for these new ironclad, a barque-rig, easier to handled. The new ironclads, soon to be dubbed as “colonial ironclads” and more officially “second class ironclad” would therefore be a more affordable type, following the lines of earlier “cheap ironclad” of the Defence class, designed as an answer to the very costly and large Warrior class.

The design however was more than five years old and Reed that dimensions, armament, armour and machinery were all insufficient for the new Admiralty requirements. Her asked for an increase in tonnage, only reluctantly granted by the Board. HMS Audacious and HMS Invincible were laid down as the first sub-class, to be improved on a second sub-class. The Admiralty was engaged before the Parliament through the First Lord of the Admiralty, to other the two remaining ships by tender, receiving submissions of various designs:

-Mare & Co. proposed a mixed broadside and turret ship,
-Palmers proposed a broadside ironclad with central battery,
-Thames Ironworks proposed another design of broadside ironclad,
-Napiers, Samudas and Lairds Co & Sons. all proposed turret ships.
But the admiralty determined them to be all in some way inadequate, leading the admiralty to create their own design and order third and fourth ships under it. The Audacious class, after its lead vessel, became the first homogeneous class of capital ships since the Prince Consort, last until the “Admiral class”.

Design of the Audacious class

As a starting point, DNC Sir Edward Reed took the Audacious class, but given technological advances, integrated a central battery made of 9-inches guns, five per side, completed by deck mounted high traverse 64-pdr guns. The armour followed that arrangement, but remained largely close to traditional broadside ironclad. The final ships were considered as central battery ironclad. Indeed, if based on design of the Defenc they had a more modern layout and shallow draught, as insisted upon by the Admiralty for these distant waters.

Hull and general design

The two-storey box battery was adopted, with reductions made in hull weight to secure better stability, making for steady gun platforms. They still nneeded after completion the addition of 350t of ballast to further improve stability but proved in the end exceptionally steady, with almost no roll. The two-story box included six 9-in guns in the main battery below, firing through broadside ports and four in the upper battery, firing also ahead and astern through corner ports. This was completed with 160mm guns were mounted at ship ends on the upper deck.

The admiralty brought many changes to the second class (Iron Duke class) which impacted the armament, armour scheme, and ultimately size as well. The first Group, Audacious and Invicible, displaced 6,106 tons for 280 ft (85 m) in hull lenght, 54 ft (16 m) in beam and 22 ft 7 in (6.88 m) in draught. The Iron Duke and Vanguard were much longer at 341 ft 3 in (104.01 m) overall, for the same beam but 23 ft 2 in (7.06 m) in draught.
In the end, they had the same ship rig (full rig) for better performances udner sails, and the hull of the first two ships was streight with a ram, whereas the second class were longer with a “clipper” stem (with limited angle) and also ended with a ram underwater. The poop had the tradtional ornamented “castle” complete with bottles and the admirakty wanted them to impress the locals wherever they dropped anchor. They also had very large saluting guns on deck for the same reason. All except Iron Duke had balanced rudders and in construction, some were “tropicalized” wirth wood used extensively and better thought ventilation. HMS Audacious the first and only zinc sheathed under the waterline to deal with the more lively tropical sea fauna and flora.

Powerplant

Steam Powerplant

All four had in common two shafts, non-lifted, fixed pitch and 4-bladed*, driven by two Coal-fired 2-cylinder reciprocating steam engines (HRCR), in turn fed by 6 boilers. However similarities stopped there as the first three had six rectangular boilers with a working pressure of 31 psi (214 kPa; 2 kgf/cm2), whereas only Vanguard had three rectangular boilers, and three of the brand new water-tube boilers. Hence changes in output:
Audacious developed 4020 hp for 12.8 knots (4,021 indicated horsepower (2,998 kW sea trials 21 October 1870),
Invincible developed 4830 hp for 14.1 kts on trials,
Iron Duke developed 4270 hp for 12.6 kts on tials,

Vanguard developed 4910 hp for 14.7 kts on trials.

In service this was rather 13.5 knots (25 km/h; 15.5 mph) for the first group and 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) for the second. Audacious had two 2-cylinder horizontal return connecting rod steam engines from Ravenhill. Her propellers measured 16-foot-2-inch (4.9 m), four-bladed of the Mangin type combined two 2-bladed screws arranged one behind the other, with an elongated boss to reduce drag when under sails. They were later replaced by two-bladed Griffiths propellers.

Rigging

They carried between 460 and 500 tonnes of coal for ranges between 1260 and 1580 nm at 10 kts. It was 1,260 nautical miles (2,330 km; 1,450 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) for Audacious.
As for their rigging, it was initially ship (full) rig, 25,054 square feet (2,328 m2) for Audacious and sisters at completion but it was difficult to manage and needed a large crew. More son the loss of Captain was a powerful reminder of the danger of such large rigging. So it was changed in 1871. Iron Duke was modified at completion, the ohers afterwards, to a simpler barque-rig for a sail area of 23,700 square feet (2,202 m2). They ended very steady and good seaboats, but only made 10 kts under sail. In fact Audacious only made 6.5 knots (12.0 km/h; 7.5 mph), partly due to the drag of the twin screws, and shallow draft, flat bottom making them leewardly when close-hauled. All except Iron Duke had balanced rudders. They were said unmanageable under sail alone.

Protection

The first group had a 8 ft (2.4 m) high waterline belt (onc. below and above waterline) 8 inches (200 mm) thick amidship and 6-in (150 mm) at both ends.
The Central battery also was 8-inches for the main battery, and down to 6 inches above for the upper battery, with a 10 inches (250 mm) teak backing
The guns were protected by 8-inch armour, 59 feet (18.0 m) long closed by a 5-inch (127 mm) transverse bulkhead forward, 8-inch (203 mm) bulkhead aft.
For the second grooup (Iron Duke/Vanguard), they had a combination of iron plating with teak backing but the same belt, 6 to 8 in (150 to 200 mm).
The Battery, notably to save weight it was made thinner, 6- in below and 4-in above (100 mm). Because in addition that battery was enclosed by bulkheads 4 to 5 in (100 to 130 mm) thick for raking fire. Overall that was considered a better protection.

Armament

RML 9-inch/14 Mk IV 12-ton gun

A 9-inch (229 mm) muzzle-loading rifle aboard HMS Iron Duke c. 1870s. Hanging from the deckhead above the gun are its ramming staff and its sponging-out staff. One of the gun’s shells, partially obscured by the glare from outside, is hanging in the gunport in front of the gun.

Specs: 12 tons, 228.6, 14 caliber (3.2 m barrel), firing 256 Pd (116.1 kg) Palliser, Common, Shrapnel.
Penetrated a nominal 11.3 inches (287 mm) of wrought iron armour at the muzzle.
Rifled muzzle loaders, muzzle velocity 1,420 feet per second (430 m/s), range 9,919 yards (9,070 m).
Three were located on the lower battery, broadsie, two above on the corner battery, per side.

64-pounder/16 76 cwt guns MRL

These were located on deck, considered as chaser guns.
Designed by Woolwich Arsenal in 1864, these 3.2 long tons (3.3 t) guns measured 97.5 in (2,48 m) at the bore.
They fired a shell 64 pounds (29 kg), 6.3 inches (160 mm), Muzzle-loading.
Muzzle velocity for their Wrought-iron tube was 1,252 feet per second (382 m/s), effective range 5,000 yards (4,600 m).

20 pdr(150 mm)/21

These deck guns were 95mm/21 BL 16cwt models used for saluting but also capable of firing explosive Paixhans like HE bombs.
54 inches (1.372 m) furing a Shell 21 pounds 13 ounces (9.894 kg) of 3.75-inch (95.2 mm) cal.
The Breech was the Armstrong type screw with vertical sliding vent-piece (block). for 1,000 feet per second (300 m/s).
Effective firing range was 3,400 yards (3,100 m). ref.

Modernizations

HMS Audacious in 1890

In 1878, Audacious received four 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo launchers that were carried on the main deck.
In the early 1880s, Invincible had her 15cm guns removed and six 4-in(102mm)/27 BL guns added. In the early 1880s.

Audacious was refitted in 1889–90 and had a new “military” rig with strong bases and fighting tops, but light topmasts with searchlight platforms and spotting tops. Her armament was also modified as she lost two 160mm/16 guns for eight 4-in(102mm)/27 BL guns and four 6-pdr (57mm)/40 Hotchkiss QF Mk I,and six 3-dpr(47mm)/40 Hotchkiss QF Mk I for anti-TB defence.
At about the same time, Iron Duke was re-engined and re-boilered. Her final engine produced 3,520 hp for 13.6kts. She carried 700t of coal for a range of 3,900n nm at 10 kts. She gain four 5-in(127mm)/25 BL guns.

Conway’s profile

⚙ specifications *Iron Duke class
Displacement	6,106 tons
Displacement*	6,034 tons
Dimensions	280 x 54 x 22 ft 7 in (85 x 16 x 6.88 m)
Dimensions*	341 ft 3 in x 54 x 23 ft 2 in (104.01 m x 16 x 7.06 m)
Propulsion	2 shafts Coal recip. steam engine, 6 boilers:
Speed	13.5 knots
Speed*	13 knots
Range	1500nm/ Unlimited with Full-Rig/Barque rig
Armament	10 ×9 in RML, 4 × 64-pdr SB
Armament*	10 × 9 in RML, 4× 6 in 64-pdr RML, 6 × 20-pdr SB
Protection	belt 6-8 in, Central battery 6-8 in, 10-in teak backing
Protection*	Belt 6-8 in, Battery 4-6 in, Bulkheads 4-5 in
Crew	450 on average

Drawings Gallery

Collision in the Irish Channel of HMS Vanguard. The Graphic 1875

HMS Vanguard sunk off the Irish Coast

HM Ironclad Vanguard The Graphic 1870

Sinking of HMS Vanguard, sketch an officer from Iron Duke.

HMS Invincible by Edwin Weedon

The loss of Vanguard

HMS Iron Duke, The British Navy Vol.I, 1882

Arrival of the British Sqn in Suda Bay, The Graphic 1882

Bombardment of Alexandria 11 July 1882

Career of the Audacious class

It should be noted that Invincible and Vanguard were renamed 30/4/1867 before keel laying and a fifth ship was planned, initially named ‘Semiramis’ and on 30/4/1867 Bellona, but cancelled in August 1867 without going out to tender.

HMS Audacious (1869)

hms audacious 1870
Audacious was laid down as hull N°141 at Napier, Govan on 26 June 1867, Launched on 27 February 1869 and completed on 10 Sept. 1870. When launched on 27 February 1869 in a gale, winds caught her rear halfway down the slipway, twisted her enough that she was grounded, buckling plates and frames of her bottom. She was commissioned in November at a cost of £256,291. She first became a guard ship, First Reserve, Kingstown, Ireland (Dún Laoghaire), then transferred to Hull until 1874. She was sent to the Far East as flagship, China Stationn Vice-Admiral Sir Alfred Phillips Ryder. She grounded twice here while transiting through the Suez Canal with tugs. She relieved her sister Iron Duke in Singapore but collided with a merchant ship in a typhoon at Yokohama. Iron Duke relieved her in 1878 so she returned home, wa smodernized and ended at Hull in 1879, relieving HMS Endymion. She then had a lengthy refit as seen above, with new masts, armaments, new boilers and a new poop deck, complete in March 1883.

She relieved Iron Duke as flagship, China Station, remaining there until 1889 and returned to Chatham for her second and last refit until 1890. She then returned to Hull for a last duty station until decommissioned in 1894. Audacious then became a 4th class reserve ship, permanently berthed, until her engines were removed. She then became a towed depot ship in 1902, commissioned at Chatham frm 16 July under Captain Henry Loftus Tottenham and loaded with torpedoes. She was transferred to Felixstowe in 1903, and in 1904 as the destroyer depot ship Fisgard, Eastern district, until 1905, when paid off. In 1906, she was recommissioned as a boy artificers training establishment, Portsmouth. Towed to Scapa Flow in 1914 she became the receiving ship Imperieuse. On 13 January 1915 HMS Roedean snapped and mooring and was pushed by the wind into Imperieuse, and she sank due to damag. In 1919, Imperieuse was to be renamed Victorious but this was cancelled and she was towed from Scapa to Rosyth on 31 March 1920, “in store” until 15 March 1927 and sold for BU to Thos. W. Ward, Inverkeithing.

HMS Invincible (ex-Cresent) (1869)

HMS Invincible was ordered initially as HMS Crescent, laid down at Napier as well (hull 142) and laid down on 28 june 1867 like her sister. She was launched later however on 29 May 1869 and completed on 1st October 1870. That year she started as guardship at Hull, relieved by HMS Audacious and transferred to the Mediterranean, on station until 1886. She was sent to Cádiz in 1873 in the civil war to blockade “rebel” Republican ships there. In 1878 her new commander Lindsay Brine, was reported as an inept seaman, and was sacked by CiC Geoffrey Hornby. In early 1879, Invincible indeed nearely collided txice with other ships in a short time, and was court-martialled, acquitted, but relieved by Captain Edmund Fremantle. By August 1880, Invincible discovered the ghost ship George Roscovich laying off off Sardinia in poor state, without masts. She was towed in Palermo on 5 August as a prize. Later she was flagship of Admiral Seymour for the 1882 bombardment of Alexandria (his regular flagship HMS Alexandra had an excessive draft). Her crew rose the naval brigade landed and she provided more men for Lord Charles Beresford’s naval brigade later involved in the Sudan campaign of 1885.

She was detached then to the China station in 1886 with a new crew for Audacious and returned to be placed as guardship at Southampton, until 1893. Her engines were removed in 1901. She became a depot ship at Sheerness for a destroyer flotilla, loaded with torpedoes and with new crew accomodations. She was renamed HMS Erebus in 1904-1906, then became TS at Portsmouth for engineering artificers as Fisgard II. On 17 September 1914 a storm off Portland Bill while under tow made her sank, with the loss of 21 men over 64 while underway to Scapa Flow to be a receiving ship. Her wreck is still there, upside down 164 ft (50 m) below sea level, now under Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

HMS Iron Duke (1870)

HMS Iron Duke was laid down at Pembroke DYd, hull 174, laid down on 23 August 1868. She was launched on 1 March 1870 and completed on 21 January 1871, named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, first of that name. Cost was £208,763. She started like her sisters in the First Reserve Guardship at Plymouth, then sent to China as flagship of the Station by September 1871. En route she became the first ironclad through the Suez Canal, but shehad to be emptied and towed by three tugboats over three days. Relieved later by Audacious, she was back home by 1875. No tugboats were paid for the trip this time and she tried to cross by sail and ran aground four times. Upon arrival in May she was paid off, recommissioned in July as guardship at Hull. She was part of the summer cruise on 1 September. When en route with three other ironclads between Dublin and Queenstown in thick fog, she rammed Vanguard, off Kish Bank, Dublin Bay. Her bowsprit was mushed but she still could sail, however her ram, gauged Vanguard’s side through her watertight bulkhead, flooded two large compartments including her engines, so she lost all power including steam-powered pumps. She sank in an hour after being abandoned.

Iron Duke was overhauled at Plymouth and work was done to improve her watertight doors. On 20 November 1877, she left Plymouth for sea trials and was 3 nautical miles when it was discovered her main sluice valve had been left open and she was about to sink. Her crew closed all watertight doors, manned the pumps, but she could not fire a distress signal, having no powder on board. The flag signal was riased but not noticed by HMS Black Prince for 15 minutes, repeated to Mount Wise, then to Plymouth. A crewman meanwhile dived and managed to find and close the valve in complete darkness. The pumps did their job and she was dry again at 15:00 returned to Plymouth for repairs, trial cancelled. She had four condenser valves replaced as well, as closing was impossible due to the stiffness in the springs, lengthened during the refit. All this ended in an Admiralty enquiry but no sanctions were taken.

Iron Duke returned as guardship at Kingstown (County Dublin) until July 1877 before another refit until August 1878 and was inspected by CiC Admiral Thomas Symonds on 22 July. She left on 4 August for the China Station and underway manage to “unstick” the grounded the P&O steamship Bengal off a reef in the Red Sea on 7 September. Vice-Admiral Robert Coote made her his flagship on 9 November. on 9 May 1879, she ran aground at the mouth of the Yangtze but was refloated 36 hours later. She was drydocked for repairs at Hiogo, Japan. Back in China, she ran aground on a sandbar while entering the Huangpu River, in May 1880, pulled free after five days by USS Monocacy. Damage was light. She was visited back to Yokohama by Princes Arisugawa Taruhito and Arisugawa Takehito on 22 July and Arisugawa Takehito later served as a midshipman. She rank aground a rock off the coast of Hokkaido underway to Aniva Bay (Sakhalin) on 30 July 1880, but was refloated on 1 August, speinding a month in drydock at Hong Kong. On 28 January 1881 she was again flagship of Admiral Coote until relieved by Vice-Admiral George Willes, CiC China Station. On 10 Octobe she was drydocked in Nagasaki and sent to Woosung on 26 October, then back home in UK by January 1883 for another long refit and modernization.

On 16 April 1885, she became flagship, Admiral Geoffrey Hornby’s “Particular Service Squadron” until August. She was afterwards in the Channel Squadron. After HMS Sultan broke loose from her anchors in Lisbon, in the 24 December 1886 gale, she rammed and sank the French steamship Ville de Victoria and Iron Duke sent boats to look for survivors. In 1887, Iron Duke was present for Spithead’s Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Fleet review, on 1 July 1887. She was placed in reserve in 1890. In 1900 she became a towed coal hulk at Kyles of Bute. In 1902 she ended in the Dockyard Reserve at Portsmouth until sold for scrap on 15 May 1906.

HMS Vanguard (ex-Centaur) (1870)

Vauguard with her barque rig

Vanguard was initially ordered from Laird, Birkenhead as hull 366, HMS Centaur. She was laid down on 21 October 1867, launched on 3 January 1870 and completed on 28 September 1870. Under command of Captain Richard Dawkins, she sailed to Kingstown on 27 August 1875 with Warrior, Hector and Iron Duke from the 1st Reserve Squadron, before departing for a summer cruise around the Irish coast under Admiral Tarleton. However as seen above the met en route deep fog off Kish lightship, and Iron Duke started to drift off course and her skipper had her returning to her proper station but this was impossible to signal this as her steam plant had no reserve to activate her foghorn, so by 12:50, a look-out on Vanguard spotted her directly ahead and her skipper ordered a hard turn, but inertia kept her port side open to Iron Duke’s ram, just 40 yards (37 m) away. Collision followed as her ram tore open her hull, flooding her boilers. Vanguard, started to heel and sinking. Her pumps were soon overwhelmed as the flooding exceeded 50 long tons per minute (847 kg/s) and the engines shut down ten minutes afte. Vanguard and Iron Duke both launched all boats and the order of abandon ship was given, all was done in good order. Captain Dawkins was the last of 360 crew aboard to leave. He lost his dog however, but there was no victim.

Vanguard rested on her flank on the seabed, 165 ft (50 m) deep but her masts were still tipping above the surface. The admiralty wanted her to be raised and diving operations started until abandoned as divers said it would be a too complicated endeavour as she was completely stuck on the seabed in a bad position (and the tech of the time was unsufficient). Captain Dawkins was court martialled for not doing enough to save his vessel after the collision, never received another command despite a sympathetic popular opinion. The wreck was rediscovered in 1985 under 148–165 ft (45–50 m) of water, protected under the Irish National Monument Act under the National Monuments Service.