Conqueror-class ship of the line
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= HMS 1861 Conqueror.JPG |Ship caption={{HMS|Conqueror|1855|6}} }} {{Infobox ship class overview |Name=Conqueror |Builders= |Operators={{navy|United Kingdom}} |Class before= |Class after= |Subclasses= |Cost= |Built range= |In service range= 1855 - 1925 |In commission range= |Total ships building= |Total ships planned= |Total ships completed=2 |Total ships cancelled= |Total ships active= |Total ships laid up= |Total ships lost=1 |Total ships retired= |Total ships preserved= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type=Ship of the line |Ship tons burthen=3,245 bm |Ship length={{convert|275|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} (o/a) |Ship beam={{convert|55|ft|5|in|m|abbr=on|1}} |Ship draught={{convert|21|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} |Ship speed={{cvt|11.8|kn|lk=in}} |Ship hold depth={{cvt|24|ft|5|in|m|1}} |Ship sail plan=Full-rigged ship |Ship propulsion=*Screw propeller |Ship power={{cvt|3103|ihp|kW PS|lk=on}} |Ship complement=930 |Ship armament=*Lower gundeck: 36 × ML 8-inch shell guns
|Ship notes= }} |
The Conqueror-class ships of the line consisted of a pair of 101-gun second rate screw-propelled ships designed by the Surveyor’s Department for the Royal Navy.
Design
The Conqueror class ships were designed in 1852 as two-decker 101-gun second rates in a period when many under-construction sailing ships of the line were being redesigned to use screw propulsion in addition to sail. Two ships were subsequently completed, {{HMS|Conqueror|1855|6}} and {{HMS|Donegal|1858|6}}.{{cite book |last=Lyon & Winfield |title=The Sail and Steam Navy List |chapter=5|pages= 10–11}}
Careers
Both ships saw service in the Channel Squadron, and later in the Crimean War. Both were used to transport troops to Mexico in support of the French intervention there in 1861. HMS Conqueror was wrecked on Rum Cay whilst carrying this out, but without losses, and most of her machinery, guns and stores were subsequently salvaged. The advent of armoured ironclads, such as {{HMS|Warrior|1860|6}} in the 1860s made the traditional ships of the line largely obsolete. HMS Donegal continued in service as a guard ship, in which role she took the last surrender of the American Civil War.{{cite web |last=Loney |url=http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowShip.php?id=48 |title= mid-Victorian RN vessels - Donegal}} She was hulked in 1886, and became part of the torpedo training school {{HMS|Vernon|shore establishment|6}}.{{cite book |last=Colledge |title=Ships of the Royal Navy |page= 100}} She served until the establishment moved on shore in 1923, and was broken up in 1925.
Ships
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- {{HMS|Conqueror|1855|6}}
:Builder: Devonport Dockyard
:Ordered: 16 November 1852
:Laid down: 25 July 1853
:Launched: 2 May 1855
:Completed: 9 April 1856
:Fate: Wrecked at Rum Cay on 13 December 1861
- {{HMS|Donegal|1858|6}}
:Builder: Devonport Dockyard
:Ordered: 27 December 1854
:Laid down: 27 September 1855
:Launched: 23 September 1858
:Completed: 27 August 1859
:Fate: Renamed {{HMS|Vernon|shore establishment|6}} on 14 January 1886. Sold for breaking up on 18 May 1925
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Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
{{Commons category|Conqueror class ship of the line}}
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif, The Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889, pub Chatham, 2004, {{ISBN|1-86176-032-9}}
- {{cite web |first=William|last=Loney |url=http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowShip.php?id=48 |title= mid-Victorian RN vessels - Donegal|accessdate=2 December 2008}}