HMS Minotaur (1863)

Minotaur at anchor
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Minotaur
Namesake	Minotaur
Ordered	2 September 1861
Builder	Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company
Laid down	12 September 1861
Launched	12 December 1863
Completed	1 June 1867
Commissioned	April 1867
Fate	Sold for scrap, 1922
General characteristics (as completed)
Class and type	Minotaur-class armoured frigate
Displacement	10,627 long tons (10,798 t)
Length	400 ft (121.9 m) between perpendiculars 407 ft 0 in (124.05 m) overall
Beam	59 ft 6 in (18.1 m)
Draught	27 ft 9 in (8.5 m)
Installed power	6,949 ihp (5,182 kW)
Propulsion	1 shaft, 1 Trunk steam engine 10 rectangular fire-tube boilers
Sail plan	5-masted
Speed	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Range	1,500 nmi (2,800 km; 1,700 mi) at 7.5 kn (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph)
Complement	800 actual
Armament	4 × 9-inch (230 mm) rifled muzzle-loading guns 24 × 7-inch (180 mm) rifled muzzle-loaders
Armour	Belt: 4.5–5.5 in (114–140 mm) Bulkheads: 5.5 in (140 mm)

HMS Minotaur was the lead ship of the Minotaur-class armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s. Minotaur took nearly four years between her launching and commissioning because she was used for evaluations of her armament and different sailing rigs.

The ship spent the bulk of her active career as flagship of the Channel Squadron, including during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee Fleet Review in 1887. She became a training ship in 1893 and was then hulked in 1905 when she became part of the training school at Harwich. Minotaur was renamed several times before being sold for scrap in 1922 and broken up the following year.