HMS Captain (1869)

	HMS Captain
History
United Kingdom
Ordered	November 1866
Builder	Laird Brothers, Birkenhead
Laid down	30 January 1867
Launched	27 March 1869
Commissioned	April 1870
Fate	Sunk; 7 September 1870
General characteristics
Displacement	As designed: 6,960 long tons (7,070 t); As built: 7,767 long tons (7,892 t);
Length	320 ft (97.54 m) pp
Beam	53 ft 3 in (16.23 m)
Draught	24 ft 10 in (7.57 m)
Propulsion	2-shaft, reciprocating 4 cylinder horizontal trunk engine; 8 rectangular boilers; 5,400 ihp (4,000 kW);
Sail plan	Ship rig: 37,990 sq ft (3,529 m2) of sail (max)
Speed	15.25 kn (28.24 km/h; 17.55 mph) (steam power)
Complement	500 crewmen and officers
Armament	4 × 12-inch 25-ton muzzle-loading rifles (2 × 2); 2 × 7-inch 6.5-ton muzzle-loading rifles (2 × 1);
Armour	Belt: 4–8 in (100–200 mm); Turrets: 9–10 in (230–250 mm); 7 in (180 mm);

HMS Captain was a major warship built for the Royal Navy as a semi-private venture, following a dispute between the designer and the Admiralty. With wrought-iron armour, steam propulsion, and the main battery mounted in rotating armoured turrets, the ship was, at first appearance, quite innovative and formidable. However, poor design and design changes resulted in a vessel that was overweight and ultimately unstable. In terms of seaworthiness she was reported as closely comparable to the higher freeboard turret-ship HMS Monarch, but her reduced freeboard added a sense of "sluggishness".^[2] The Captain capsized in heavy seas, only five months after being commissioned, with the loss of nearly 500 lives.^[3]

^ Cite error: The named reference Conways60 p21 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Printed memo-report from Vice Admiral Sir Robert Spencer Robinson (as Controller of the Royal Navy) to the Board of Admiralty, 31 May 1870 (UK National Archives, Admiralty/ADM 136/3, p. 13). Robinson thought in comparative trials of May 1870 that the Monarch was superior to the Captain except when her single screw (when disconnected) interfered with the helm "in a given position", making the Monarch "perfectly unmanageable."
^ Macintyre, Donald; Bathe, Basil W (1974). Man of War a History of the Combat Vessel. Mcgraw-hill Inc. p. 103. ISBN 9780070445857. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

[Conways60_p21-1] Cite error: The named reference Conways60 p21 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] Printed memo-report from Vice Admiral Sir Robert Spencer Robinson (as Controller of the Royal Navy) to the Board of Admiralty, 31 May 1870 (UK National Archives, Admiralty/ADM 136/3, p. 13). Robinson thought in comparative trials of May 1870 that the Monarch was superior to the Captain except when her single screw (when disconnected) interfered with the helm "in a given position", making the Monarch "perfectly unmanageable."

[MOFWAR-3] Macintyre, Donald; Bathe, Basil W (1974). Man of War a History of the Combat Vessel. Mcgraw-hill Inc. p. 103. ISBN 9780070445857. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

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