HMS Mersey (1858)

{{short description|Frigate of the Royal Navy}}

{{other ships|HMS Mersey}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}

{{Infobox ship begin}} {{Infobox ship image |Ship image=The training ship 'Mersey'.jpg |Ship caption=The training ship Mersey }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag=Image:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg |Ship name= |Ship namesake= |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered=31 March 1855 |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Chatham Dockyard |Ship original cost=£173,898 |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=26 December 1856 |Ship launched=13 August 1858 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed=21 April 1859 at Portsmouth Dockyard |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=5 March 1858 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Sold for breaking up 23 January 1875 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type= |Ship tonnage= |Ship displacement=5,643 tons |Ship tons burthen=3,733 tons BM |Ship length={{convert|336|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}} overall, {{convert|300|ft|9.5|in|abbr=on}} gundeck, {{convert|264|ft|7.25|in|abbr=on}} keel |Ship beam={{convert|52|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|29|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth={{convert|19|ft|11|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=sails; 1000 shp auxiliary steam engine. |Ship sail plan= |Ship speed=13.29kts on trial |Ship range= |Ship endurance=145 hours at full steam |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement=around 600 |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*1859: Upper deck: 12 x 8in/68-pounder shell guns Main Deck:28 x 10in shell guns |Ship armour=none |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }}

The second HMS Mersey was commissioned in 1858, six years after the first Mersey had been broken up. She and her sister ship the Orlando were the longest wooden warships built for the Royal Navy. At 336 feet in length, HMS Mersey was nearly twice the size of HMS Victory, the flagship of Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. At 5643 tons displacement, she was certainly a large and impressive looking ship in her day. She was heavily armed, and in comparison to many of her counterparts was quite fast with an approximate speed of 12½ knots, achieving 13½ on trials.

The length, the unique aspect of the ship, was actually an Achilles' heel of the Mersey and Orlando. The extreme length of the ship put enormous strains on her hull due to the unusual merging of heavy machinery, and a lengthy wooden hull, resulting in her seams opening up. They were pushing the limits of what was possible in wooden ship construction:

{{blockquote|Even the biggest of the 5,000-6,000-ton wooden battleships of the mid-to-late 19th century and the 5,000-ton wooden motorships constructed in the United States during World War I did not exceed 340 feet in length or 60 feet in width. The longest of these ships, the Mersey-class frigates, were unsuccessful, and one, HMS Orlando, showed signs of structural failure after an 1863 voyage to the United States. The Orlando was scrapped in 1871 and the Mersey soon after. Both the Mersey-class frigates and the largest of the wooden battleships, the 121-gun Victoria class, required internal iron strapping to support the hull, as did many other ships of this kind. In short, the construction and use histories of these ships indicated that they were already pushing or had exceeded the practical limits for the size of wooden ships.[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sultan/archeology2.html Asia's Undersea Archeology], Richard Gould, NOVA, PBS Television article }}

{{blockquote|Britain had built two long frigates in 1858 – HMS Mersey and HMS Orlando – the longest, largest and most powerful single-decked wooden fighting ships. Although only 335 feet long, they suffered from the strain of their length, proving too weak to face a ship of the line in close quarters.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A538030 HMS Warrior], h2g2, BBC Television.}}

File:HMS Mersey, built 1858, in Queenstown Harbor.jpg Island and Mersey, in Queenstown Harbour]]

In 1875 Mersey was laid up and sold for breaking. Some of her masts were installed on {{HMS|Endymion|1865|6}}, which was then being refitted at Portsmouth.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval and Military Intelligence |date=15 January 1873 |page=5 |issue=27587 |column=D }}