HMS ''Albion'' was a 90-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 ...

ship 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 tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

of the

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. Ordered in 1839, she was built at

Plymouth Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Roya ...

, launched on 6 September 1842, and completed on 23 January 1844. ''Albion'' was designed by Sir

William Symonds Sir William Symonds CB FRS (24 September 1782 – 30 March 1856, aboard the French steamship ''Nil'', Strait of Bonifacio, Sardinia) was the only ship of her class to ever serve as a sailing ship, and the last

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two-decker to be completed and enter service without a steam engine. She was the name ship of a

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

of three second rates—the others being and .

Career

Amadeo Preziosi - The Allied Fleets anchored in the Bosphorus - GAC 1807

''Albion'' entered service in 1844 and was deployed to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

during 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 ...

. Her crew suffered many casualties from

Cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

in August 1854. She took part in the siege of Sevastopol, with her commanding officer, Captain Stephen Lushington taking charge of a Naval Brigade providing vital heavy artillery support for the Allied forces besieging

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

. On 17 October 1854, ''Albion'', under the command of Commander Henry Rogers joined over 50 British and

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warships of various types in an initial seaborne bombardment of Sevastapol. The

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suffered heavy casualties (at least 1,100 men) but the Allies had failed to seriously damage the batteries. The Anglo-French fleet had received comparatively light casualties, with about 500 killed or wounded in total. However, the Allies had taken a beating from the Russian batteries, and ''Albion'' had been set on fire three times during the engagement, with 11 killed and 71 injured. Without the assistance of tugs, it is probable that ''Albion'' would have run aground. On 17 August 1855 ''Albion'' took part in the fifth bombardment of Sevastopol.Clowes 1901, p. 466.

Fate

From 1860 until 1861, she was converted to steam screw propulsion at Devonport, but the modifications were never finished. She was kept in reserve in Devonport for more than twenty years, before the decision was made to scrap her, and she was finally broken up at Devonport in 1884. ALBION 1842 RMG J2221

Notes

References

* * Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Albion (1842) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Albion-class ships of the line (1842) Victorian-era ships of the line of the United Kingdom Ships built in Plymouth, Devon 1842 ships