HMS Exmouth (1854)

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

Exmouth signalling her arrival at Naples
History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Exmouth
Ordered12 March 1840
Builder
Laid down13 September 1841
Launched12 July 1854
Commissioned15 March 1855
Out of service1877 lent to Metropolitan Asylums Board as a training ship
FateSold for breaking up on 4 April 1905
General characteristics
Class and typeAlbion-class ship of the line
Displacement4,382 tons
Tons burthen3,083 tons
Length243 ft (74 m) (overall)
Beam60 ft 2.5 in (18.352 m)
Depth of hold23 ft 8 in (7.21 m)
Propulsion
  • Sails
  • 2-cyl. horizontal single expansion
  • Single screw
  • 400 nhp (1,533 ihp) = 9.55kts
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement830 officers and men
Armament
  • 91 guns:
  • Gundeck: 32 × 8in
  • Upper gundeck: 32 × 32 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck and Forecastle: 26 × 32 pdrs, 1 × 68 pdr

HMS Exmouth was a 91-gun screw-propelled Albion-class second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.

Design and construction

Plan for the Exmouth as a sailing ship

HMS Exmouth was ordered on 12 March 1840 as a 90-gun Albion-class sailing ship from Devonport Dockyard, where her keel was laid on 13 September 1841.[1] After over a decade on the stocks, on 30 October 1852 she was ordered to be completed as a 91-gun two-decker with steam screw propulsion, and conversion began on 20 June 1853.[2]

On 12 July 1854 Exmouth was launched by the daughter of Admiral Stopford, Admiral-superintendent of the dockyard, in the presence of a crowd estmated at 2–3,000.[2][3] She was fitted out at Devonport Dockyard, and finally commissioned for service on 15 March 1855, having cost a total of £146,067, with £76,379 being spent on the hull as a sailing ship, and a further £24,620 spent on the machinery.[2]

In 1855, during the later stages of the Crimean War, she served in the Baltic Sea as flagship of Sir Michael Seymour.[4] On 12 May 1857, Exmouth ran aground in Crewgreace bay, west of The Lizard, Cornwall. She was refloated. Her captain, Harry Ayres was convicted of negligence by a Court Martial and was admonished. Her master, Edward Fancourt Cavell was also convicted. He was sentenced to be reprimanded and admonished.[5] She was a guard ship at Devonport by 1859, when future admiral Robert Spencer Robinson was her captain between 1 February 1858 and May 1859.

Training ship

From 1877, the Admiralty lent Exmouth to the Metropolitan Asylums Board as a training ship, based at Grays, Essex, replacing the similar Goliath, which had been destroyed by fire in December 1875.[6] These ships were recommended for boys supervised by the poor law authorities as an economic means of providing them with a career which also benefited the country.[7][8]

Disposal

Exmouth was sold by the Admiralty to George Cohen on 4 April 1905 and then broken up at Penarth, South Wales.[2]

References

  1. ^ Lyon & Winfield, p. 94
  2. ^ a b c d Lyon & Winfield, p. 187
  3. ^ "Launch of Her Majesty's Screw-ship Exmouth, 91 Guns". Morning Herald. No. 22172. London. 14 July 1854. p. 6. Retrieved 17 October 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ Clowes 1901, p. 478.
  5. ^ "The Stranding of Her Majesty's Ship Exmouth". The Times. No. 22688. London. 23 May 1857. col C, p. 12.
  6. ^ Lyon & Winfield, pp. 190–191
  7. ^ Drage, Geoffrey (February 1904). "Training ships". Children's Homes. Central Poor Law Conference. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Training Ships". The Workhouse. Retrieved 18 December 2014.

Bibliography