HMS Rodney (1833)

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

HMS Rodney was a two-deck 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1833, she was broken up in 1884.

Bombardment Of Sebastopol by HMS Rodney, showing HMS Spiteful – a 6-gun steam sloop on her starboard side[1] (17 October 1854, Crimean War)
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Rodney
Builder	Pembroke Dockyard
Laid down	July 1827
Launched	18 June 1833
Commissioned	29 August 1835
Fate	Broken up, February 1884
General characteristics
Class & type	Rodney-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	2598 bm
Length	205 ft 6 in (62.64 m) (gundeck)
Beam	54 ft 5 in (16.59 m)
Depth of hold	23 ft 2 in (7.06 m)
Propulsion	Sails (and steam, after 1860)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	850 men
Armament	As second rate, 90 guns: Gundeck: 30 × 32 pdrs, 2 × 68 pdr carronades Upper gundeck: 34 × 32 pdrs Quarterdeck: 26 × 32 pdrs

Design and description

The ships were 205 feet 6 inches (62.6 m) at the gun deck and 170 feet 1 inch (51.8 m) at the keel. The Rodney class had a beam of 54 feet 5 inches (16.6 m), a depth of hold of 23 feet (7.0 m) and measured 2,625 69⁄94 tons burthen. Their crew numbered 720 in peacetime and 820 in wartime.^[2] The ships had the usual three-masted full-ship rig with a sail area of 28,102 square feet (2,610.8 m²).^[3]

Captain Charles Napier called Rodney, "a fine warship, but it is not a very superior sailer".^[4] That is not supported by experience as the ship proved to be a steady gun platform with a slow roll and was able to make 11.4 knots (21.1 km/h; 13.1 mph) sailing large early during her first deployment to the Mediterranean. Minor modifications in the early 1840s that including raking her masts backwards subsequently reduced her performance.^[5] During comparative speed trials in 1845 against other ships of the line, including Canopus, Vanguard, and Albion, Rodney proved to be the fastest in a head sea, but performed less well under other conditions.^[6]

The muzzle-loading, smoothbore armament of the Rodney class consisted of thirty-two 32-pounder (63 cwt) guns^{[Note 1]} and two 8-inch (203 mm) (50 cwt) shell guns on the lower gun deck and thirty-two 32-pounder (55 cwt) and two 8-inch (50 cwt) shell guns on the upper gun deck. Between their forecastle and quarterdeck, they carried twenty-four 32-pounder (42 cwt) guns. The ships were later rearmed with twenty-six 32-pounders (56 cwt) and six 8-inch shell guns on the lower gundeck and thirty 32-pounders (56 cwt) and six 8-inch shell guns on the upper deck. The number of guns on the forecastle and quarterdeck increased to twenty-six 32-pounders (42 cwt) guns.^[7] These guns made the Rodney-class ships the most powerful warships in the world when designed because they were the first to carry a full array of long guns that were accurate at long range. Without short-range carronades they outgunned French and American ships of the same size at long range.^[5]

The conversion of Rodney was ordered on 5 February 1859 and began on 16 March during a naval arms race between France and Britain in steam-powered ships of the line. Slightly longer than London at 214 feet 4 inches (65.33 m), she measured 2,739 tons burthen and displaced 3,707 long tons (3,766 t).^[8] During her sea trials on 3 July 1860, the ship reached 11.5 knots from her Maudslay, Sons and Field engine that produced 2,246 ihp (1,675 kW).^[9]

History

Rodney leaving Barcelona 1837, by Nicolas S. Cammillieri

Rodney and the Allied Fleets anchored in the Bosphorus, late 1853; the prelude to the Crimean War. Amedeo Preziosi

Rodney was launched on 18 June 1833 at Pembroke Dockyard.^[10] She was based on a design by Robert Seppings and used his diagonal bracing (short timber) construction.

The majority of her commissions saw active service in the Mediterranean Sea, but she also served in the Black Sea during the Crimean War (1853–1856), and after being converted to a steam and screw propelled vessel, served in China as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Henry Keppel, commanded by captain Algernon Heneage from 21 January 1867.

Rodney was the ship where William Hall, later to become the first Black man and one of the first Canadians to win the Victoria Cross, began his naval career in 1852.^[11] On 29 October 1853, she ran aground in the Dardanelles. She was refloated with assistance from HMS Firebrand.^[12]

Rodney was fitted with screw propulsion in 1860, completed on 11 January, and was the last unarmoured wooden battleship in full commission. She was broken up in 1882.^[10]

Captains who commanded Rodney

Over the decades after Rodney's launch, eight captains commanded her:

List of Captains
Captain	From	Until
Captain Hyde Parker	29 August 1835	12 May 1840
Captain Robert Maunsell	13 May 1840	16 October 1843
Captain Edward Collier	4 February 1845	8 March 1849
Captain Charles Graham	6 August 1851	22 November 1854
Captain George St Vincent King	22 November 1854	21 July 1855
Captain Henry Keppel	21 July 1855	24 January 1856
Captain George Knyvett Wilson[13]	24 January 1856	20 August 1856
Captain Algernon Charles Fieschi Heneage	21 January 1867	27 April 1870

The midship section and disposition of Rodney's guns. Notice the amount of tumble-home which the top-sides of the hull possess.

Notes

1. "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 63 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.