HMS Cyclops (1839)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Cyclops.

HMS Cyclops off Spithead in 1840 – etching from a painting by William Adolphus Knell

HMS Cyclops was a paddle wheel steam frigate built for the Royal Navy and launched in 1839 and taken out of service in 1861 and sold for breaking in January 1864. She saw action in the Syrian War in 1840 and the Crimean War in 1854, later being involved in laying the first Transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858.

The Cyclops was a first class sloop launched on 10 July 1839 and completed in February 1840. Built in the Royal Navy dockyard in Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire in Wales[1] with a wooden hull, she weighed 1,195 tons, had six guns and was propelled by a paddle in the middle of the ship[2] powered by J. & S. Seaward and Capel two-cylinder 'Gorgon' engines giving a top speed of 9.5 knots. The Cyclops was originally intended as a sister ship for the Gorgon but in July 1838 her design was altered by adding a 12 foot long midships section and she became a steam frigate, changing to a corvette in the 1850s. At that time she was the largest steam warship in the world.[3]

  1. ^ HMS Cyclops (1839), Battleships - Cruisers website
  2. ^ HMS Cyclops (1839), The Victorian Royal Navy website
  3. ^ Phillips, Lawrie. HMS Cyclops, Pembroke Dockyard and the Old Navy: A Bicentennial History, The History Press Ltd (2014)