HMS Magdala (1870)

HMS Magdala was a breastwork monitor of the Royal Navy, built specifically to serve as a coastal defence ship for the harbour of Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 1860s. She was ordered by the India Office for the Bombay Marine. The original specifications were thought to be too expensive and a cheaper design was ordered. While limited to harbour defence duties, the breastwork monitors were described by Admiral George Alexander Ballard as being like "full armoured knights riding on donkeys, easy to avoid but bad to close with." Aside from gunnery practice Magdala remained in Bombay Harbour for her entire career. The ship was sold for scrap in 1903.

In July 1866 the India Office asked for two floating batteries to defend Bombay and the Controller of the Navy, Vice Admiral Spencer Robinson recommended that monitors be used. He recommended a design with armour belt and protecting the gun turret, armed with the largest possible guns, which would cost £220,000. The India Office thought that this was too expensive and ordered a repeat of HMVS Cerberus instead for only £132,400. The ships had a length between perpendiculars of 225 feet (69 m), a beam of 45 feet (14 m), and a draught of 15 feet (5 m) at deep load. They displaced Their crew consisted of 155 officers and men. enough to steam at .

The Cerberus class ships mounted a pair of 10 inch rifled muzzle loading guns in each hand worked turret. The shell of the gun weighed while the gun itself weighed The gun had a muzzle velocity of and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal of wrought iron armour at The guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells. Magdala was rearmed in 1892 with four breech loading BL 8 inch guns.

The Cerberus class ships had a complete wrought iron waterline belt that was thick amidships and thinned to at the ends. The superstructure and conning tower were fully armoured, the reason it was called a breastwork, with of wrought iron. The gun turrets had on their faces and on the sides and rear. All of the vertical armour was backed by of teak. The decks were thick, backed by of teak.

HMS Magdala was laid down on 6 October 1868 by the Thames Ironworks in Leamouth, London. She was launched on 2 March 1870 and completed in November 1870. For her delivery voyage to India, Magdala was fitted with three temporary masts and made the trip under sail in the middle of winter without escort, as both her builders and the Royal Navy, considered her sufficiently seaworthy as to make the trip safely. Her life thereafter was wholly spent in Bombay Harbour, with occasional short trips to sea for firing practice. She was sold for scrap in January 1903.