Hector-class ironclad

Line drawing from Brassey's Naval Annual 1888
Class overview
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Defence-class ironclad
Succeeded by	HMS Achilles
Built	1861–1868
In commission	1864–1886
Completed	2
Scrapped	2
General characteristics
Type	Armoured frigate
Displacement	7,000 long tons (7,100 t)
Length	280 ft 2 in (85.4 m)
Beam	56 ft 5 in (17.2 m)
Draught	26 ft 2 in (8 m)
Installed power	6 boilers 3,260–3,560 ihp (2,430–2,650 kW)
Propulsion	1 shaft; 1 HRCR steam engine
Sail plan	Barque-rig
Speed	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Range	800 nmi (1,500 km; 920 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	530
Armament	As built: 4 × 110 pdr (7 in (178 mm)) rifled breech-loading (RBL) guns 20 × 68-pdr smoothbore guns From 1868: 16 × 7 in rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns 2 × 8 in (203 mm) RMLs
Armour	Belt: 2.5–4.5 in (64–114 mm) Bulkheads: 4.5 in (114 mm)

The Hector-class ironclads were a pair of armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the 1860s. Hector was completed in 1864 and assigned to the Channel Fleet until she began a refit in 1867. Valiant's builder went bankrupt, delaying her launching by a year. The ship then had to wait almost another five years to receive her guns and be commissioned. Both ships were assigned to the Reserve Fleet from 1868 until they were paid off in 1885–1886. They were mobilized during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, but saw no action. They were hulked in the late 1890s and assigned to shore establishments. Hector was scrapped in 1905, but Valiant was converted into a floating oil tank in 1926; she was sold for scrap thirty years later.