HMS Achilles (1863)

Achilles, 1867–1877
History
United Kingdom
Name	Achilles
Namesake	Achilles
Ordered	10 April 1861
Builder	Chatham Dockyard, England
Cost	£469,572
Laid down	1 August 1861
Launched	23 December 1863
Completed	26 November 1864
Renamed	1902, Hibernia March 1904, Egmont 19 June 1916, Egremont 6 June 1919, Pembroke
Fate	Sold for scrap, 26 January 1923
General characteristics
Type	Armoured frigate
Displacement	9,820 long tons (9,980 t)
Length	380 ft (115.8 m)
Beam	58 ft 3 in (17.8 m)
Draught	27 ft 2 in (8.3 m)
Installed power	10 boilers 5,720 ihp (4,270 kW)
Propulsion	1 shaft, 1 trunk steam engine
Sail plan	Ship rig
Speed	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Range	1,800 nmi (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at 6.5 knots (12.0 km/h; 7.5 mph)
Complement	709
Armament	4 × 7-inch (178 mm) Armstrong breech-loaders 16 × 100-pounder (234 mm) Somerset smoothbore cannons 6 × 68-pounder (206 mm) smoothbore guns From 1868: 22 × 7-inch (178 mm) 6½ ton rifled muzzle-loading guns 4 × 8-inch (203 mm) rifled muzzle-loading guns From 1874: 2 × 7-inch (178 mm) 6½ ton muzzle-loading rifles 14 × 9-inch (229 mm) 12 ton muzzle-loading rifles From 1889:[1][2] 2 × 6-inch (152 mm) 5 ton breech-loaders 14 × 9-inch (229 mm) 12 ton muzzle-loading rifles 6 × landing (boat and field) guns 8 × QF 3-pounder (47 mm) guns 16 × machine guns
Armour	Belt: 2.5–4.5 in (64–114 mm) Bulkheads: 4.5 in (114 mm)

HMS Achilles was an armoured frigate^{[Note 1]} built for the Royal Navy in the 1860s. Upon her completion in 1864 she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. The ship was paid off in 1868 to refit and be re-armed. When she recommissioned in 1869, she was assigned as the guard ship of the Fleet Reserve in the Portland District until 1874. Achilles was refitted and re-armed again in 1874 and became the guard ship of the Liverpool District in 1875. Two years later, she was rejoined the Channel Fleet before going to the Mediterranean in 1878. The ship returned to the Channel Fleet in 1880 and served until she was paid off in 1885.

Achilles was recommissioned in 1901 as a depot ship at Malta under a succession of different names. She was transferred to Chatham in 1914 and was again renamed multiple times before she was sold for scrap in 1923. Achilles had more changes of her rigging and armament than any other British warship, before or since.^[3]

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