HMS Colossus (1882)

HMS Colossus, painted in 1891, Malta?
History
United Kingdom
BuilderPortsmouth Dockyard
Laid down6 June 1879
Launched21 March 1882
Commissioned31 October 1886
FateSold 1908 to Thos. W. Ward and broken up
General characteristics
Class and typeColossus-class ironclad
Displacement9,420 long tons (9,570 t)
Length325 feet (99.1 m) lpp
Beam68 ft (21 m)
Draught25 ft 9 in (7.85 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Complement396
Armament
Armour

The fourth HMS Colossus was a Colossus class second-class British battleship, launched in 1882 and commissioned in 1886. She had a displacement of 9,520 tons, and an armament of 4 × 12-inch breechloaders, 5 × 6-inch guns and had a respectable speed of 15.5 knots.

She was one of the first, if not the first, modern battleship. She had several features which would be standard for all gun warships up to the Second World War including all steel construction, a main battery of breech loading major caliber guns (ie. 10 inches or greater) mounted in turrets and was propelled only by steam engines instead of a combination of steam and sails - as was common in the mid-19th century.