The ''Conqueror''-class

ships of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which involved the two column ...

consisted of a pair of 101-gun

second rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...

screw A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...

-propelled ships designed by the Surveyor’s Department for the

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Design

The ''Conqueror'' class ships were designed in 1852 as two-decker 101-gun second rates in a period when many under-construction sailing ships of the line were being redesigned to use screw propulsion in addition to sail. Two ships were subsequently completed, and .

Careers

Both ships saw service in the Channel Squadron, and later in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

. Both were used to transport troops to

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in support of the French intervention there in 1861. HMS ''Conqueror'' was wrecked on Rum Cay whilst carrying this out, but without losses, and most of her machinery, guns and stores were subsequently salvaged. The advent of armoured ironclads, such as in the 1860s made the traditional ships of the line largely obsolete. HMS ''Donegal'' continued in service as a

guard ship A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea. Royal Navy In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usual ...

, in which role she took the last surrender of the

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. She was hulked in 1886, and became part of the torpedo training school . She served until the establishment moved on shore in 1923, and was broken up in 1925.

Ships

* :Builder: Devonport Dockyard :Ordered: 16 November 1852 :Laid down: 25 July 1853 :Launched: 2 May 1855 :Completed: 9 April 1856 :Fate: Wrecked at Rum Cay on 13 December 1861 * :Builder: Devonport Dockyard :Ordered: 27 December 1854 :Laid down: 27 September 1855 :Launched: 23 September 1858 :Completed: 27 August 1859 :Fate: Renamed on 14 January 1886. Sold for breaking up on 18 May 1925

Notes

References

* * Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif, The Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889, pub Chatham, 2004, *{{cite web , first=William, last=Loney , url=http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowShip.php?id=48 , title= mid-Victorian RN vessels - Donegal, accessdate=2 December 2008 Ship of the line classes Ship classes of the Royal Navy