HMS Виктория: Трагедия және теңіз тарихындағы орны

Late 19th century Royal Navy battleship

HMS Victoria was the lead ship in her class of two battleships of the Royal Navy. On 22 June 1893, she collided with near Tripoli, Lebanon, during manoeuvres and quickly sank, killing 358 crew members, including the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon. One of the survivors was executive officer John Jellicoe, later commander in chief of the British Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland.

Victoria was constructed at a time of innovation and rapid development in ship design. Her name was originally to be Renown, but this was changed to Victoria while still under construction to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, which took place the year the ship was launched. Her arrival was accompanied by considerable publicity. She was the largest, fastest and most powerful ironclad afloat, with the heaviest guns. She was the first battleship to be propelled by triple expansion steam engines. These were constructed by Humphrys, Tennant and Company of Deptford and had cylinders of diameters , and with stroke of 4 feet (1 m). They produced under forced draught, or under open draught. She was also the first Royal Navy ship to be equipped with a steam turbine which was used to run a dynamo. A detailed model of the ship was exhibited at the Royal Navy exhibition in 1892, and another in silver was given to Queen Victoria by the officers of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines as a Jubilee gift. Victoria was lightened by removing , including of coal thrown overboard. The leaks were patched up by creating temporary bulkheads and using timber and Portland cement to block holes. Dreadnought and Edinburgh each had hawsers attached to Victoria so they could pull astern. Sampson was lashed alongside so that she could pull backwards, and Victorias own engines were run astern. This was sufficient to move the ship, and she was refloated on the evening of 4 February. The ship proceeded to the new Hamilton Dock in Malta for repairs, being the first ship to use it. The hull plating was ripped and torn for a distance of 70 feet (21 m), with some plates being folded into 'S' shapes, although the mild steel bent rather than cracked. Repairs were completed in time for the summer fleet cruise in May.

On 22 June 1893, Victoria was leading the Mediterranean Fleet's annual exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean. The ship was at the head of a division of ships, while 1,200 yards to starboard was a second division of five ships led by Admiral Tryon ordered a manoeuvre that was to see each ship turn, one after the other in formation, to steam in the opposite direction. However, with the ships just 1,200 yards apart, and an estimated minimum turning circle of at least 1,600 yards, Victoria, the first ship to turn, was struck by the armoured ram of Camperdown as it turned, causing massive damage to the flagship. Victoria eventually sank in approximately 15 minutes, with 358 members of the crew, including Admiral Tryon, lost.

After a search that lasted ten years, the wreck was discovered on 22 August 2004 in of water by the Lebanese Austrian diver Christian Francis, aided by the British diver Mark Ellyatt. She stands vertically with the bow and some 30 metres of her length buried in the mud with the stern pointing directly upwards towards the surface. This position is not unique among shipwrecks as first thought, as the Russian monitor Russian monitor Rusalka also rests like this. The unusual attitude of this wreck is thought to have been due to the heavy single turret forward containing the main armament coupled with the still turning propellers driving the wreck downwards.