HMS Resistance (1861)

British defence class ironclads

HMS Resistance was the second of two s built for the Royal Navy in the 1860s. She was the first capital ship in the Royal Navy to be fitted with a ram and was given the nickname of Old Rammo. She had a beam of 54 feet (16 m) and a draft of 26 feet (8 m). The ship displaced and had a ram in the shape of a plough, the first capital ship in the Royal Navy to be fitted with one. The hull was subdivided by watertight transverse bulkheads into 92 compartments and had a double bottom underneath the engine and boiler rooms. Resistance was 128 feet (39 m) shorter overall and displaced over less than the Warrior class ironclads. Four rectangular boilers provided steam to the engine at a working pressure of The engine produced a total of During sea trials on 25 August 1873, Resistance had a maximum speed of The ship carried of coal, enough to steam at She was re rigged as a barque from September 1864 to April 1866 before returning to her original ship rig.

The armament of the Defence class ships was intended to be 18 smoothbore, muzzle loading 68 pounder guns, eight on each side on the main deck and one each fore and aft as chase guns on the upper deck, plus four rifled breech loading 40 pounder guns as saluting guns. The solid shot of the 68 pounder gun weighed approximately while the gun itself weighed The gun had a muzzle velocity of and had a range of at an elevation of 12°. The shell of the 110 pounder Armstrong breech loader weighed It had a muzzle velocity of and, at an elevation of 11.25°, a maximum range of The 110 pounder gun weighed while the 40 pounder weighed All of the guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells. Resistance was rearmed during her 1867–1868 refit with fourteen 7 inch and two rifled muzzle loading guns. The new guns were heavier so fewer could be carried. The shell of the 15 calibre 8 inch gun weighed while the gun itself weighed It had a muzzle velocity of and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal of wrought iron armour at the muzzle. The 16 calibre 7 inch gun weighed and fired a shell. It was credited with the nominal ability to penetrate armour.

The Defence class ships had a wrought iron armour belt, thick, that covered 140 feet (43 m) amidships. The armour extended from upper deck level to 6 feet (2 m) below the waterline. 4.5 inch transverse bulkheads protected the guns on the main deck. The armour was backed by of teak. The ends of the ship were left entirely unprotected which meant that the steering gear was very vulnerable. They were, however, sub divided into many watertight compartments to minimize any flooding.

Resistance was ordered on 14 December 1859 and laid down a week later by Westwood, Baillie at their shipyard in Cubitt Town, London. She was launched on 11 April 1861, commissioned in July 1862 and completed on 5 October at the cost of £258,120. After completion she served in the Channel Fleet until 1864 when she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet, the first British ironclad assigned to that fleet. In 1867 the ship was paid off in Portsmouth for refit and re armament. Resistance recommissioned in 1869 as guardship in the River Mersey and served there until 1873 when she returned to the Channel Fleet. In 1877 the ship resumed her post as Mersey guardship until she was paid off in 1880 at Devonport. In 1885 Resistance began to be used as a target for the testing of armour against the effects of torpedoes and gunfire.

Resistance was sold for scrap to J S Turnbull of Glasgow on 11 November 1898. On 4 February 1899 she departed Spithead in tow of the Liverpool tugs Pathfinder and Wrestler for the Mersey, to be broken up. In a gale in the Irish Sea on 8 February, her steam steering engine failed due to a boiler problem, she shipped water in the forward compartments and the stokehold. In view of the leaks and the inability to steer, the tugs sought a port of refuge and brought her to anchor inside Holyhead Breakwater, in the outer harbour. Early the next morning it was realised that the ship was taking in more water and would founder where the water had a depth of To prevent a total loss and a potential danger to navigation, she was towed further into the harbour and put ashore in Penrhos Bay. After salvage operations, Resistance was refloated on 17 February and the tow to the Mersey completed. On 13 March she was beached at Oglet Point, near Garston, where she was broken up by the ironfounders Monks, Hall & Co, of Warrington.