HMS Colossus

1882 HMS Colossus, together with her sister-ship Edinburgh, marked a
significant step forward in the design of capital ships for the Royal Navy in the
1880s.

THE COLOSSUS CLASS

By 1870, turrets had become the accepted place to put a capital ships guns, but they were still located in the waist. It was to be the following decade before they migrated to the extremities of the ship, but before then, there were still problems to be resolved, not least of them, for the Royal Navy, a return to breech loading, briefly tried in the 1860s and then abandoned. HMS Colossus marked the return to the new gun (and also saw the introduction of a significant secondary battery), and also to the adoption of stronger, lighter steel in place of iron for the hull, and of composite armour. Colossus was built at Portsmouth Dockyard. Laid down on 6 June 1879, she was launched on 21 March 1882 and completed on 31 October 1886. She was sold for scrap in 1908.

DESIGN AND EQUIPMENT

The design of capital ships was completely revolutionised between 1860 and 1900, and Colossus represents a turning point, even though she was perhaps not outstanding herself. As well as seeing the definitive return to breech loading big guns, she had an effective secondary battery of five 6in (152mm) guns. She had composite armour in place of wrought iron in her central citadel, which was much broader than that of earlier ships, improving her chances of survival should she have suffered heavy damage to her unprotected bow or stern.

TECHNICAL DATA
Type: Central-turret battleship Machinery: 2-shaft inverted 3-cylinder compound engines delivering 7500ihp Dimensions (overall): Length, 99m (325ft); beam, 20.7m (68ft)
Displacement: 9420 tons deep load
Draught: 7.9m (26ft) deep load
Complement: 396
Speed: 16.5 knots (30. 5km/h)