HMS Royal Albert (1854)

HMS Royal Albert was a 121 gun three-decker ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1854 at Woolwich Dockyard. She had originally been designed as a sailing ship but was converted to screw propulsion while still under construction.

H.M.S. Royal Albert 131 Guns, 1856, Lithograph T.G.Dutton, after Oswald Walters Brierly
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Royal Albert
Ordered:
  • As sailing ship: 26 March 1842
  • As screw propelled: 31 January 1852
Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down: August 1844
Launched: 13 May 1854
Completed: By 19 November 1854
Decommissioned: 1861
Fate: Sold to Castle for Breaking up, September 1884
General characteristics As sailing ship
Tons burthen:
  • 3,393 70/94 bm
  • (enlarged to 3,463 on 24 March 1851)
Length:
  • 220 ft (67 m) (overall)
  • 177 ft 2.75 in (54.0195 m) (keel)
Beam: 60 ft 10 in (18.54 m)
Depth of hold: 25 ft (7.6 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 1000
Armament:
  • 120 guns
  • Lower deck: 28 x 32pdrs + 4 x 68 pdr guns
  • Middle deck: 32 x 32pdrs + 2 x 68 pdr guns
  • Upper deck: 34 x 32pdrs
  • Forecastle/Quarterdeck: 6 x 32pdrs + 14 x short 32pdrs
General characteristics After conversion
Displacement: 5,517 tons
Tons burthen: 3,726 26/94 bm
Length:
  • 232 ft 9 in (70.94 m) (overall)
  • 193 ft 8 in (59.03 m) (keel)
Beam: 61 ft (19 m)
Draught:
  • 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m) (light)
  • 25 ft (7.6 m) (deep load)
Depth of hold: 24 ft 2 in (7.37 m)
Propulsion:
  • Sails
  • 2-cylinder horizontal single expansion trunk
  • Single screw
  • 500 nhp
  • 1,801 ihp
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Speed: 10 knots (under steam)
Complement: 1,050
Armament:
  • 121 guns
  • Lower deck: 32 x 8in guns
  • Middle deck: 32 x 32pdrs
  • Upper deck: 32 x 32pdrs
  • Forecastle/Quarterdeck: 24 x 32pdrs + 1 x 68 pdr gun
Woolwich Dockyard, launch of Royal Albert 1854

Lithographs of the launch at Woolwich, 13 May 1854 of HMS Royal Albert screw steamer, claim she has 131 guns. [1]

From commissioning at Sheerness she was first commanded by Commander Alexander Little between June and October 1854. From October to November 1854 by Captain Thomas Sabine Pasley while still at Sheerness. From 14 February 1855 to April 1857 she was commanded by Captain William Robert Mends as flagship to Rear-Admiral Edmund Lyons commanding the Mediterranean fleet, then chiefly concerned with the Crimean War. In late December 1855, she sprang a leak whilst on a voyage from the Crimea to Malta and was beached at San Nicholas, Kea, Greece.[2] She was subsequently refloated and taken in to Malta for repairs.[3] From April 1857 to 20 August 1858 she was commanded by Captain Francis Egerton.

Cross section of the Royal Albert

From 25 August 1858 to October 1859 she was commanded by Captain Edward Bridges Rice as part of the Channel Squadron under Rear-Admiral Charles Fremantle. She received a new captain on 1 October 1859, Captain Henry James Lacon, who remained up to her paying off at Plymouth on 25 January 1861. Rear-Admiral Robert Fanshawe took over the Channel Squadron from 10 October 1860. In 1884 she was sold for breaking up at Charlton.

References
  1. National Maritime Museum - Lithograph of the launch and 131 guns
  2. "News in Brief". The Times (22262). London. 12 January 1856. col F, p. 10.
  3. "Naval and Military Intelligence". The Times (22278). London. 31 January 1856. col F, p. 9.


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