HMS Mars (1848)

Mars as a training ship on River Tay, circa 1902
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Mars
Builder	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down	December 1839
Launched	1 July 1848
Fate	Sold, 1929
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Vanguard-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	2576 bm
Length	190 ft (58 m) (gundeck)
Beam	56 ft 9 in (17.30 m)
Depth of hold	22 ft 6 in (6.86 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	78 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 32 pdrs, 2 × 68 pdr carronades Upper gundeck: 26 × 32 pdrs, 2 × 68 pdr carronades Quarterdeck: 14 × 32 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 32 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades Poop deck: 4 × 18 pdr carronades

HMS Mars was a two-deck 80-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 1 July 1848 at Chatham Dockyard.^[1]

She served as a supply carrier in the Crimean War, and was fitted with screw propulsion in 1855. She then saw service in the Mediterranean.^[2] In 1869 she was moored in the River Tay,^[3] off Woodhaven. Here she served as a training ship for boys aged ten to sixteen from across Scotland, with up to 400 on board at any one time; these boys were usually homeless, orphans, or delinquents.^[4][5] She was finally sold in 1929, when she was sold and towed to Thos. W. Ward's Inverkeithing yard to be broken up.^[1][6]