HMS Ajax (1880)

The Ajax class was designed as a shallow-draught version of the preceding {{HMS|Inflexible|1876|2}} that was also smaller and cheaper; unfortunately the need, imposed by budgetary constraints, to produce a smaller ship produced a vessel with all of the shortcomings of Inflexible but with none of her virtues.Parkes, p. 262 The ships had a length between perpendiculars of {{convert|280|ft|m|1}} and were {{convert|300|ft|9|in|m|1}} long overall, some {{convert|44|ft|m|1}} shorter than Inflexible. They had a beam of {{convert|66|ft|m|1}}, and a draught of {{convert|23|ft|6|in|m|1}} and displaced {{convert|8510|LT|t|lk=on}}. Their crew consisted of 345 officers and ratings, over {{convert|3000|LT|t|0}} less than Inflexible. The Ajax-class ships were bad seaboats and steered very erratically, especially at high speed. More deadwood was added to their sterns in 1886 in a partially successful attempt to rectify the problem.Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 26

The Ajax class was powered by a pair of inverted, vertical, compound-expansion steam engines. These were built by John Penn and Sons and each drove a single propeller using steam provided by 10 cylindrical boilers. The engines were designed to produce a total of {{convert|6000|ihp|lk=in}} for a speed of {{convert|13|kn|lk=in}}. The ships carried a maximum of {{convert|970|LT|t|0}} of coal, enough to steam {{convert|2100|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|9|knots}}.Burt, p. 25

They copied the main armament layout of Inflexible with their turrets arranged en echelon so that both turrets could fire directly ahead and to each side, although this was more theoretical than practical due to damage from muzzle blast. Each turret mounted a pair of rifled muzzle-loading RML 12.5 inch 38 ton gun.Gardiner, pp. 85, 96 Their shells weighed {{convert|809|lb|kg|1}} while the gun itself weighed {{convert|38|LT|t|0}}. The guns had a muzzle velocity of {{convert|1575|ft/s|m/s|abbr=on}} and were credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal {{convert|18.4|in}} of wrought iron armour at the muzzle.Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 6 To attack the unarmoured portion of their opponents, the Ajax class was fitted with a pair of rifled breech-loading BL 6 inch 80 pounder gun.Parkes, p. 265 For defence against torpedo boats, they carried six quick-firing QF 6 pounder Nordenfelts. The ships also mounted a pair of above-water {{convert|14|in|adj=on|0}} torpedo launchers and could carry a {{convert|60|ft|adj=on|1}} torpedo boat.Branfill-Cook, p. 86

The Ajax class copied Inflexible{{'}}s armour scheme of a heavily armoured citadel with unamoured ends and sides, but unlike their predecessor, they lacked enough buoyancy to remain afloat if their ends were flooded. The citadel was {{convert|104|ft|m|1}} long and the armour was composed of wrought iron plates {{convert|10|and|8|in|0}} thick, separated and backed by 10 inches of teak at the waterline, reducing above and below the waterline to an armoured thickness of {{convert|15|in|1}} in a similar sandwich. The citadel was closed off by fore and aft transverse bulkheads that were {{convert|16.5|in|0}} thick above water and {{convert|13.5|in|0}} below. The armoured deck was {{convert|3|in}} thick from bow to stern. The turrets were protected by compound armour plates {{convert|16|to|14|in|0}} thick and {{convert|12|in|0|adj=on}} plates defended the conning tower.Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 26; Parkes, p. 265

Ajax, the fourth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy,Colledge, p. 7 was named for the mythological hero.Silverstone, p. 209 The ship was laid down on 21 March 1876 in No. 4 Slipway, Pembroke Dockyard, Wales, and was launched on 10 March 1880 by Mrs. George Parkin, wife of the dockyard's Captain-Superintendent.Phillips, pp. 217–18 She was completed on 30 March 1883 at a cost of £548,393.

Ajax was not commissioned until 30 April 1885 and was assigned to the Particular Service Squadron commanded by Admiral Geoffrey Hornby.Parkes, p. 266 That summer, the squadron evaluated the weapons and defences of a fortified harbour, Berehaven (now Castletownbere), Ireland, against torpedo boats and other threats.Brown, location 3317 In August 1885, when tensions with Russia had subsided, she was posted as guard ship at Greenock. Ajax accidentally collided with the turret ship {{HMS|Devastation|1871|2}} in 1887 off Portland. The latter had one compartment below water holed, but Ajax only received two holes in her bow.Hazard, p. 213 File:The Burst Gun on board HMS 'Ajax' - ILN 1889.jpg 1889]]The ship participated in the annual manoeuvres in August 1889 and a shell exploded in one of her 12.5-inch gun barrels on 2 September, wounding one man.Brassey, pp. 16, 367 The ship was reduced to reserve at Chatham Dockyard in 1891. Her BL six-inch, 80-pounder guns were replaced by QF six-inch guns in 1897. She was further reduced to Dockyard Reserve in November 1901, and was sold to Castles for scrap in March 1904Parkes, pp. 265–66 and subsequently broken up at Charlton.Winfield & Lyon, p. 257

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book|last1=Branfill-Cook|first1=Roger|title=Torpedo: The Complete History of the World's Most Revolutionary Weapon|date=2014|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-84832-215-8}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Brassey|editor1-first=Thomas|title=Brassey's Naval Annual 1890|date=1890|publisher=J. Griffin|location=Portsmouth, UK|url=http://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5QafeuOu6PQvpSp85sxOaA_zwTUI7XWiVBU42IE_UJB7GxF_exO-xYTnpWSLPXYDvKgOi8LycbzVYmNO58bn5m8QMgbEFCvmgfMYw6Ul6BJFL6wB0MsbXBekjNWPBObb5VIwo5aEYwv-HrcA-YnoIhEQa1V0EzxkDYwGD1zrFucLyZAP-HS49xnxd3quukRaMBocVD8PqKtrkT9NvSoFmh15JqNIyX7XdK9RG2e9Ls-8ZtW3_p58T-Ja3Gt_DXq7k1XrbCWXp}}
• {{cite book|last=Brown|first=David K.|title=Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860–1905|year=2010|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-78383-019-0|type=mobi}}
• {{cite book|last=Burt|first=R. A.|title=British Battleships 1889–1904|year=2013|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=978-1-59114-065-8}}
• {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|editor2-last=Kolesnik|editor2-first=Eugene M.|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich, UK|year=1979|isbn=0-8317-0302-4|name-list-style=amp|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2}}
• {{Cite Colledge2006}}
• {{cite book|editor=Gardiner, Robert|title=Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905|series=Conway's History of the Ship|year=1992|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=1-55750-774-0}}
• {{cite book|last1=Hazard|first1=John|title=Army & Navy Calendar for the Financial Year 1888–89|date=1888|publisher=W. H. Allen|location=London|url=http://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5Qad7PCBa7oqUvmEDwcLChp_qj5YIRypVhevZu9C0aQbbNV-Q5bdtNuil3xXl_w33gLCEn-BCFKo_k7FZZ_dCUU-PT0BXya9MQTF3LSW9a7raVQdvtj5mrzNb7BiYCGzYftWmOCZa6adTo4kRN0QXGq_mnh3paWnGri_vTbVKTkp6OxkbCeCIxXqtYZJdl3-zpmYyhDYau0gilyt2-2zT2aqvAKSGHvWDiverDfv_ZWzrA7DhLnqOHSWR5Gg-3-wXQ_8rmndnhy3Ign5qgBexqBLY9_Rgig}}
• {{cite book|last=Parkes|first=Oscar|title=British Battleships|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1990|edition=reprint of the 1957|isbn=1-55750-075-4}}
• {{cite book|last1=Phillips|first1=Lawrie; Lieutenant Commander|title=Pembroke Dockyard and the Old Navy: A Bicentennial History|date=2014|publisher=The History Press|location=Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK|isbn=978-0-7509-5214-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Directory of the World's Capital Ships|year=1984|publisher=Hippocrene Books|location=New York|isbn=0-88254-979-0}}
• {{winfield}}

• {{Commons category-inline|HMS Ajax (ship, 1880)}}

{{Ajax class battleship}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajax (1880)}}

Category:Ajax-class ironclads

Category:Victorian-era battleships of the United Kingdom

Category:1880 ships