HMS Defence (1861)

1861 ship of the Royal Navy

HMS Defence was the lead ship of the armoured frigates ordered by the Royal Navy in 1859. Upon completion in 1862 she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. The ship was paid off in 1866 to be refitted and rearmed and was briefly reassigned to the Channel Fleet when she recommissioned in 1868. Defence had short tours on the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Stations, relieving other ironclads, from 1869 to 1872 before she was refitted again from 1872 to 1874. She became guard ship on the River Shannon when she recommissioned. The ship was transferred to the Channel Fleet again in 1876 and then became guard ship on the River Mersey until 1885. Defence was placed in reserve until 1890, when she was assigned to the mechanical training school in Devonport in 1890. She was renamed Indus when the school adopted that name and served there until sold for scrap in 1935.

The Defence class ironclads were designed as smaller and cheaper versions of the armoured frigates. This meant that they could not fit the same powerful engines of the Warrior class ships and were therefore slower and had far fewer guns. The naval architect Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, a future Constructor of the Navy, considered that in terms of combat a Defence class ship was worth one quarter of a Warrior. HMS Defence was 280 feet (85 m) long between perpendiculars and 291 feet (89 m) long overall. She had a beam of 54 feet (16 m) and a draft of 26 feet (8 m). The ship displayed and had a ram in the shape of a plough. The hull was subdivided by watertight transverse bulkheads into 92 compartments and had a double bottom underneath the engine and boiler rooms. Defence was 128 feet (39 m) shorter overall and displaced over less than the Warrior class ironclads. Four rectangular boilers enough to steam at The lower masts and bowsprit were made of iron to withstand the shock of ramming. Defence could make about under sail and the funnel was semi retractable to reduce wind resistance while under sail alone. The ship's propeller could be hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag while under sail. She was re rigged as a barque from September 1864 to April 1866 before returning to her original ship rig. Both breech loading guns were new designs from Armstrong and much was hoped of them. Six of the 110 pounder guns were installed on the main deck amidships, and the other two became chase guns; all of the 68 pounder guns were mounted on the main deck. 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 1863–1864 caused the navy to begin 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. Defence 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 it. 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.

Defence was laid down on 14 December 1859 by the Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company in Jarrow. During speed trials on 22 February 1862, she collided with off Spithead. Her anchor was pushed through her bow below the waterline and she ran aground. She was refloated and taken in to Portsmouth Dockyard for repairs. HMS Defence was commissioned on 4 December 1861 and completed on 12 February 1862. under the command of Captain Nowell Salmon, who had earned the Victoria Cross during the Indian Mutiny in 1857. While recovering items lost when the ironclad grounded off Pantelleria, Defence damaged her propeller and rudder when she briefly grounded in the trough of a wave, and was nearly blown ashore herself on 24 March 1872. Repairs cost £417. She was paid off again for a lengthy refit in Plymouth between 1872 and 1874 and became the guard ship on the Shannon until 1876. The ship then rejoined the Channel Fleet until 1879 and was transferred with most of that fleet to the Mediterranean while the Mediterranean Fleet patrolled the Dardanelles during the Russo Turkish War of 1878. Defence replaced her sister ship as guard ship in the Mersey until 1885, after which she saw no further sea going service. On 20 July 1884 the ship collided with in Lough Swilly, damaging her bow and flooding some compartments. In 1890 she was converted into a floating workshop at Devonport, and was renamed in 1898.