Hector-class ironclad

Pair of Royal Navy armoured frigates built in the 1860s

The Hector class ironclads were a pair of armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the 1860s. was completed in 1864 and assigned to the Channel Fleet until she began a refit in 1867. 's builder went bankrupt, delaying 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 1885–1886. They were mobilized during the Russo Turkish War of 1877–1878, 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; she was sold for scrap thirty years later.

The Hector class ironclads, like their immediate predecessors, the , were designed as smaller and cheaper versions of the armoured frigates. They were modified versions of the Defence class with additional armour and more powerful engines. The ships were 280 feet (85 m) long between perpendiculars, had a beam of 56 feet (17 m) and a draft of 26 feet (8 m). They were overweight and displaced The ships were designed with a very low centre of gravity and had a metacentric height of 4 feet (1 m). While handy in manoeuvring they rolled quite badly. The ships had a crew of 530 officers and ratings. enough to steam at full speed. The armoured frigates were barque rigged and had a sail area of Their funnel was semi retractable to reduce wind resistance while under sail alone. They was designed to allow their propeller to be hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag while under sail, but the hoisting gear was never fitted on either ship.

The armament of the Hector class ships was intended to be 32 smoothbore, muzzle loading 68 pounder guns, 15 on each side on the main deck and one each fore and aft as chase guns on the upper deck. This was modified during Hectors construction to four rifled 110 pounder breech loading guns mounted on the upper deck and twenty four 68 pounders on the broadside. Valiant, due to the delays in her construction and a shortage of guns, never received any of these guns. The breech loading guns were a new design from Armstrong and much was hoped for them. To partially alleviate their overweight condition the ships were not fully armed and only received four 110 pounders on the upper deck and twenty 68 pounders on the main deck behind armour. Firing tests carried out in September 1861 against an armoured target, however, proved that the 110 pounder was inferior to the 68 pounder smoothbore gun in armour penetration and repeated incidents of breech explosions during the Battles for Shimonoseki and the Bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863–64 caused the navy to withdraw the gun from service shortly afterwards. 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 All of the guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells. Hector was rearmed during her 1867–1868 refit with sixteen 7 inch and two rifled muzzle loading guns. Valiant received these guns as her initial armament. The two 8 inch guns were mounted on the quarterdeck where they could be fought in all weathers and four 7 inch guns were also fitted on the upper deck. The remaining twelve 7 inch guns were carried on the main deck. 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 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 Hector class ships had a wrought iron waterline armour belt, thick, that covered 216 feet (66 m) amidships and left the bow and stern unprotected. To protect against raking fire the belt was closed off by 4.5 inch transverse bulkheads at each end at lower deck level. The armour extended to 5 feet (2 m) below the waterline. The main deck was protected by a strake of armour that ran the full length of the ship. Amidships, it was 4.5 inch thick for a length of 216 feet and tapered to a thickness of to the ends of the ship.

Whilst Valiant was under construction, Westwood, Baillie went bankrupt in November 1861 and their shipyard was taken over by the Thames Ironworks. This delayed her launching by about a year and a shortage of muzzle loading guns delayed her completion by nearly five years. Hector, in contrast, served with the Channel Fleet from commissioning until 1867, when she was paid off to be re armed and to refit. She formed part of the Southern Reserve Fleet between 1868 until 1886 much like Valiants service as the First Reserve guard ship in Southern Ireland after her commissioning, where she remained until 1885. Both ships did little of significance until they were assigned to the Particular Service Squadron, commanded by Admiral Geoffrey Hornby, from June to August 1878 during the Russian war scare during the Russo Turkish War. Hector was assigned as Queen Victoria's guard ship nearly every summer during this period when the Queen and her family, were in residence in Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. The ship was converted to a kite balloon storeship in 1915, during World War I, and her name was changed to HMS Valiant III. She was offered for sale in 1922, but there were no takers so the ship was converted into a floating oil tank in 1926 and towed to Hamoaze.