HMS Magdala (1870)

Magdala with awnings rigged
History
United Kingdom
Name	Magdala
Namesake	Battle of Magdala
Builder	Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Company
Laid down	6 October 1868
Launched	2 March 1870
Completed	November 1870
Fate	Broken up, 1904
General characteristics
Class and type	Cerberus-class breastwork monitor
Displacement	3,340 long tons (3,390 t)
Length	225 ft (68.6 m) (p/p)
Beam	45 ft (13.7 m)
Draught	15 ft 3 in (4.6 m)
Installed power	1,436 ihp (1,071 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts, 2 steam engines
Speed	10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Range	450 nmi (830 km; 520 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	155
Armament	2 × twin 10-inch rifled muzzle loaders
Armour	Belt: 6–8 in (152–203 mm) Deck: 1–1.5 in (25–38 mm) Superstructures: 8–9 in (203–229 mm) Gun turret: 9–10 in (229–254 mm)

HMS Magdala was a Cerberus-class breastwork monitor of the Royal Navy, built specifically to serve as a coastal defence ship for the harbour of Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 1860s. She was ordered by the India Office for the Bombay Marine. The original specifications were thought to be too expensive and a cheaper design was ordered. While limited to harbour defence duties, the breastwork monitors were described by Admiral George Alexander Ballard as being like "full-armoured knights riding on donkeys, easy to avoid but bad to close with."^[1] Aside from gunnery practice Magdala remained in Bombay Harbour for her entire career. The ship was sold for scrap in 1903.