HMS Penelope (1867)

Broadside Ironclad Corvette in service 1868-1887.

HMS Penelope was a central-battery iron hulled armoured corvette of the Royal Navy in service from 1968 to 1887, with a shallow draugh, designed by N. Barbany under the guidance of CNT O. Reed. She served with the Channel Fleet, then First Reserve Squadron in 1869 and a coast guard ship at Harwich, until decommissioned in 1887 with an interim mobilization in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. She also took part in the Bombardment of Alexandria (Anglo-Egyptian War) in 1882. After decommission she was a receiving ship in South Africa and prison hulk from 1897, until sold for BU in 1912.

Design of the class

Development

Like most ironclads of that era, HMS Penelope was designed by Sir Edward Reed in 1864, from an admiralty request for an ironclad with a very shallow draught hull in order to perform coastal operations in the Baltic Sea, or Black Sea, following likely the experience of the Crimean War. However Reed, the DNC or Director of Naval Construction at the time, fell ill and passed onto the work to his assistant and brother-in-law, Nathaniel Barnaby. That was thus the first work really done by Banaby most by himself, albeit he consulted Reed lilely at many occasions over deisgn specifics, as the request was most unusual: A shallow draught vessel was great for shore operations indeed, but a more marine, deeper hull was more useful in open seas.

The ship would certainly perform not well in transit, so for maximum boyancy, Barnaby gave it a very broad hull. Still, seen from aside, the ship had an unusually low draught, but nice hull shapes, with a clipper bow and stern. It was defined as a corvette since the displacement was limited to 4,400 tonnes, and since the trunk engine was tall, the deck arrangement over the waterline was quite peculiar. She was large however even for a corvette, and had a side with slight tumblehome to compensate also the shallow draught. The ship was approved by the admiraty and ordered from the Pembroke Royal Dockyard, built from September 1865 to June 1868 at a total cost of £196,789.

Hull and general design

As seen above, Penelope was a large armoured corvette (the term in the 1860s referred as a single artillery deck ship with 3 masts generally not above 3000 tonnes burthen). She displaced a bit more however, at 4,394 long tons (4,465 t) or 3,096 tons burthen. She measured 260 feet (79.2 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 50 feet (15.2 m) and draught of 15 feet 9 inches (4.8 m) forward, 17 feet 4 inches (5.3 m) aft. Complement was 350 strong with officers and ratings and she innovated as the first British capital vessel fitted with a washroom. She had an interesting hull, with mostly flat sides but the hole battery was concentrated amidship, with cutouts for the two outer guns, and the whole section was sloped (tumblehome) for extra stability, knowing also the slope increased artificially the armor thickness.

The shallow-draught requirement had several conquences. The usual single propeller was replaced by two, much smaller ones, in order to be mounted insufficiently deep for any effect. But another aspect the Admiralty wanted hoistable propellers. Those fixed on Pallas and Favorite were known for their poorsailing qualities. This was done using similar systems as for single-screw ships, with two-bladed models. This HMS Penelope would be the only twin hoisting screws warship ever. Barnaby also created provisions for the hoisting frames and twin rudders. In the end this made for a very unusual stern shape, which effect were not well understood but that prooved to create extra drag in service. The prow however showed a distinctive crescent stem, so as having a ram of some sort, albeit it was not intended for actual combat. Her metacentric height was of 2.7 feet (0.8 m) at deep load, so conversely the shallow draft made her a very steady gun platform, as intended as a bombardment vessel.

Powerplant

Penelope had two Maudslay 3-cylinder, horizontal-return and connecting-rod steam engines (HRCR) driving each a single 14-foot (4.3 m) propeller. Four boilers fed them with steam at a working pressure of 30.5 psi (210 kPa; 2 kgf/cm2). This enabled her to reach a speed of 12.76 knots (23.63 km/h; 14.68 mph), obtained from 4,703 indicated horsepower (ihp) or 3,507 kW as noted in her handbook on sea trials, performed on 1 July 1868. The same also revealed how she heeled unusually, bleeding speed when turning. She carried 500 tons of coal for a full range of 1,360 nautical miles (2,520 km; 1,570 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

But she was also ship-rigged as a proper corvette, with three masts in the barque style, for a full sail area of 18,250 square feet (1,695 m2). It should be said that with a shallower draught, she had mast bases shorters, making the entire masts also shorter in protportion with other ironclad of the time. But the drag aft made her speed under sail limited to 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph). Her shallow draught in the end, in addition to the drag caused by the stern, made her very unhandy under sail. The flat almost surface below compeletely broke the underwater flow. On trials here is how she was described:

“drifting to leeward in a wind like a tea tray”.

Protection

HMS Penelope was protected by a waterline belt, a box battery and bulkheads at each ends, as any central citadel ship.
The waterline belt was made of wrought iron armour and covered her entire length, 6 inches (152 mm) thick amidships, and backed by 10–11 inches (254–279 mm) of wood. It was tapered down to 5 inches at both ends. It was 5 feet 6 inches (1.7 m) tall, 4 feet (1.2 m) below water, 1 foot 6 inches (0.5 m) above.

Amidship was located the main box battery, that was 68-foot-long (20.7 m) and 6 inches thick above the belt. Both ends were protected by 4.5-inch (114 mm) transverse bulkheads, closing that box to raking fire or in chase. Between the battery and the belt was a gap which could be vulnerable, so a 96-foot-long (29 m) strake of 6-inch armour was added to link them up, enclosed at both ends by 4.5-inch bulkheads.

Armament

Penelope was armed like central battery ironclads of the day, with few, heavy guns: The main artilley comprised eight rifled muzzle-loading (RML) 8-inch (203 mm) in the box battery. This was completed by three rifled breech-loading (RBL) 5-inch (127 mm) deck guns, for chase and defence from the rear. They also had two RBL 20-pounder 3.75-inch (95 mm) Armstrong saluting guns.

8-inch (203 mm) Armstrong RML

These guns were placed in four positions either side, with each a gun port, but the battery corners had massive cutouts to manage extra gun ports for the outer guns. They were embrasured in a way to provide some limited end-on fire, but given the position of the pivots and shape of the cutouts, the angle did not covered directly aft or forward, hence the additional guns. These 9 long tons (9.1 t) guns had a barrel length of 118 inches (3m) between the bore and chamber and fire a shell 175 pounds (79.4 kg) shell at 1,420 feet per second (430 m/s), and were rated abe to penetrate 9.6 inches (244 mm) of wrought-iron armour.

5-inch (127 mm) Armstrong RBL

HMS Penelope as seen above had three more rifled breech-loading (RBL) 5-inch (127 mm) Armstrong guns on deck. Two as chase guns under the bow embrasures, one in the stern. However they were judged to be very ineffective. The RBL 40-pounder Armstrong gun appeared in 1859 and was produced until 1863. It had a mass of 32 cwt (3,584 pounds (1,626 kg)) and later 35 cwt (3,920 pounds (1,780 kg)) for the gun & breech length of 106.3 inches (2.700 m). It fired a 40 pounds 2 ounces (18.20 kg) 4.75-inch (120.6 mm) shell at 1,180 feet per second (360 m/s). These were mostly used as mobile siege guns, mounted notably on armoured trains. They performed well in Egypt notably.

Career of HMS Penelope

HMS PENELOPE #NH 71207, TYPES OF SHIPE IN THE BRITISH NAVY, WASHINGTON 1877.

5th ship of her name in the Royal Navy, ordered in February 1865, she became also the first iron-hulled ship at Pembroke Royal Dockyard. Laid down on 4 September, launched on 18 June 1867 she was completed at Devonport on 27 June 1868. Her first two years she remained in the Channel Fleet, until June 1869. Needless to say the sometimes rough conditions of the channel were not the best for her, so she became a guard ship at Harwich until 1882. This included regular summer cruises (on milder weather) with the rest of the reserve fleet. On 7 January 1876, she was rammed at low speed bt the German merchant ship Victoria at Harwich.

Damage was superficial. At last the “Russian Scare” had the good triggers to mobilize her crew, so she entered in the “Particular Service Squadron” that was mobilised in June–August 1878. This coincided also with the Russo-Turkish war, won by the Russians. Relations between Britain and Russia later degraded, until reaching the lowest point in 1904 with the Russo-Japanese war. On 18 January 1881, the ironclad was driven from her moorings at Harwich, cables snapping, and she drifted away and ran aground in the River Stour. Given her shallow draft she had no damage but likely proved hard to “unstick”.

In 1882, HMS Penelope, like many former ironclads, was sent in the Mediterranean. She was at Gibraltar, under command of Captain St George Caulfield D’Arcy-Irvine as the Anglo-Egyptian War started.
The latter was short conflict in which United Kingdom invaded Egypt, leading to decades of British control, triggered by political unrest, nationalist movements, European financial interests. Egypt was officially part of the Ottoman Empire, but had a large degree of autonomy under the Khedive Isma’il Pasha and later Tewfik Pasha, but they cumulated a huge national debt after modernization projects and construction of the Suez Canal and resented the heavy financial control by Britain and France.

Egyptian nationalism led by army officers, notably Ahmed Urabi, led the Urabi Revolt to expel foreign influence and against the ruling elite. When this started to threaten European interests and security of the Suez Canal, Britain intervened, and after the June 1882 Anti-European riots in Alexandria, the fleet was sent in force in July 1882 to Bombard Alexandri. Landings followed. By September the small Urabi army was defeated by Garnet Wolseley at Tel el-Kebir. Ahmed Urabi was captured and exiled and the military occupation started, a paradox as a formal Ottoman province and British protectorate.

Penelope was chosen precisely because of her shallow draught, she was sent to Egypt, part of the fleet in June off Alexandria that assisted with the evacuation of European refugees. It lasted about a week. Then more ships arrived for the big showdown on 11 July. In this massive bombardment, Penelope was the closest to Egyptian forts, so she targeted these in priority, she fired 231 rounds and was fired upon, being in range, but the antiquated Egyptians guns oarely hit. She only was lightly damaged and had eight men wounded. One of her eight-inch gun was however damaged by a lucky shot on the embrasure. She had a mainyard shattered as well. She was then chosen by Rear-Admiral Anthony Hoskins as flagship for the seizure of the Suez Canal, also acting as troopship, since she was the only large, armoured ship capable of freely crossing the canal. She covered the transports for the landings at Ismailia. She remained and likely sailed back to Gribraltar, and from there, UK.

Indeed soon after on 11 March 1883, she collided into the steam collier Dunelm, at Sheerness, but for only minor damage. She returned home postwar for five years more of service at Harwich, likely static most of the time, as guarship. She was eventually paid off in 1887. She was refitted as a receiving ship and sailed to Simonstown in South Africa for this new career. She remained here for ten years. In January 1897, she was converted to a prison hulk. This new career went on for 15 years, until she sold for scrap on 12 July 1912, purchased for £1,650 to be broken up by a company at Genoa, Italy, in 1914. So she nearly saw the start of the war.

Read More/Src

Books

Ballard, G. A. (1980). The Black Battlefleet. NIP
Brown, David K. (1997). Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860–1905.
Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: Complete Record. Chatham Publishing.
Lambert, Andrew (1987). Warrior: Restoring the World’s First Ironclad. Conways
Lyon, David & Winfield, Rif (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. Chatham
.
Parkes, Oscar (1990). British Battleships, Warrior 1860 to Vanguard 1950: A History of Design, Construction, and Armament. NIP
Phillips, Lawrie (2014). Pembroke Dockyard and the Old Navy: A Bicentennial History. History Press.
Roberts, John (1979). “Great Britain (including Empire Forces)”. Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1860–1905.
Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World’s Capital Ships. Hippocrene Books.

Links

thebluejackets.co.uk
dreadnoughtproject.org
Greenwich photo coll.
pdavis.nl
More CC photos
wiki