HMS Agamemnon (1852)

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

HMS Agamemnon was a 91-gun second rate steam and sail-powered Agamemnon-class ship of the line built for the Royal Navy during the 1850s. Completed in 1853, she served in the Crimean War of 1854–1855. The ship was sold for scrap in 1870.

Agamemnon laying cable, 1858
History
United Kingdom
Name	Agamemnon
Namesake	King Agamemnon of Mycenae
Ordered	20 June 1849
Launched	22 May 1852
Completed	9 February 1853
Commissioned	27 September 1852
Fate	Sold for scrap, 12 May 1870
General characteristics (as built)
Class & type	91-gun second-rate
Tons burthen	3,102 49⁄94 bm
Length	230 ft (70.1 m) (gundeck)
Beam	55 ft 6 in (16.9 m)
Draught	18 ft 8 in (5.7 m)
Depth of hold	24 ft 6 in (7.5 m)
Installed power	1,548 ihp (1,154 kW)
Propulsion	1 screw; 1 single-expansion steam engine
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Speed	11.2 knots (20.7 km/h; 12.9 mph)
Complement	860
Armament	91 muzzle-loading, smoothbore guns: Lower deck: 36 × 8 in (203 mm) shell guns Upper deck: 34 × 32 pdrs Quarter deck & Forecastle: 22 × 32 pdrs; 1 × 68 pdr

Description

The Agamemnon-class ships of the line were built in response to the perceived threat from France by the construction of the Napoléon class battleships.^[1] Agamemnon measured 230 feet (70.1 m) on the gundeck and 195 feet 2 inches (59.5 m) on the keel. She had a beam of 55 feet 6 inches (16.9 m), a depth of hold of 24 feet 6 inches (7.5 m), a deep draught of 18 feet 8 inches (5.69 m) and had a tonnage of 310249⁄94 tons burthen. The ship was fitted with a two-cylinder single-expansion steam engine built by John Penn and Sons that was rated at 600 nominal horsepower and drove a single propeller shaft. Her boilers provided enough steam to give the engine 2,268 indicated horsepower (1,691 kW) that was good for a speed of 11.2 knots (20.7 km/h; 12.9 mph). Her crew numbered 860 officers and ratings.^[2]

The ship's muzzle-loading, smoothbore armament consisted of thirty-four 8 in (203 mm) shell guns on her lower gundeck and thirty-four 32-pounder (56 cwt) guns^{[Note 1]} on her upper gundeck. Between her forecastle and quarterdeck, she carried twenty-two 32-pounder (45 cwt) guns and a single 68-pounder gun.^[2]

Construction and career

Agamemnon in Balaclava Harbour in 1855, by James Robertson

Agamemnon was originally ordered on 27 February 1841 as a 80-gun second-rate ship of the line; the ship was reordered as a screw-propelled ship on 20 June 1849 and was reclassified while under construction as a 91-gun second rate. She was laid down in November at Woolwich Dockyard, launched on 22 May 1852, commissioned at Sheerness Dockyard on 29 September 1852 by Captain Sir Thomas Maitland, and completed on 9 February 1853. Agamemnon participated in the Spithead Fleet Review held on 11 August and was then assigned to the Channel Fleet.^[2]

Agamemnon was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet and served in the Crimean War as flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons. She participated in the bombardment of Sevastopol on 17 October 1854.^[3] During the Great Storm of 1854, she was driven ashore on the Russian coast of the Black Sea.^[4] Agamemnon participated in the shelling of Fort Kinburn, at the mouth of the Dnieper river in 1855.^[5]

The ship was sold for scrap on 2 May 1870.^[6]

Notes

1. "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 56 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.