HMS ''Nile'' was one of two battleships built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

during the 1880s. Late deliveries of her main guns delayed her commissioning until 1891 and she spent most of the decade with the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...

. ''Nile'' returned home in 1898 and became the coast guard ship at Devonport for five years before she was placed in reserve in 1903. The ship was sold for

scrap Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered m ...

in 1912 and broken up at Swansea,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Design and description

Trafalgar_class_battleship_Starboard_elevation_and_Deck_plan

The design of the ''Trafalgar''-class ships was derived from the layout of the earlier ironclad battleship and the , coupled with the heavy armour of the preceding . The ''Trafalgar''s

displaced Displaced may refer to: * Forced displacement Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNH ...

; the addition of more armour and ammunition during construction added an additional of weight and increased their draught by a foot (0.3 m) below their designed

waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. Specifically, it is also the name of a special marking, also known as an international load line, Plimsoll line and water line (positioned amidships), that ind ...

. They had a

length between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the stern ...

of , a beam of , and a draught of .Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 31 ''Nile''s crew consisted of 537 officers and ratings in 1903 and 527 two years later.Burt, p. 48 The low

freeboard In sailing and boating, a vessel's freeboard is the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship. In commercial vessels, the latter criterion measured relativ ...

of the ''Trafalgar''s made them very wet and they could not maintain full speed except in a calm. The ships were powered by a pair of three-cylinder, vertical inverted,

triple-expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up h ...

s, each driving one shaft, which were designed to produce a total of and a maximum speed of using steam provided by six cylindrical boilers with

forced draught The difference between atmospheric pressure and the pressure existing in the furnace or flue gas passage of a boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or va ...

. During her

sea trial A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...

s, ''Nile'' slightly exceeded this with a speed of from . The ''Trafalgar'' class carried a maximum of of coal which gave them a range of at a speed of .

Armament and armour

The ''Trafalgar''-class ships' main armament consisted of four breech-loading (BL) guns mounted in two twin-

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

s, one each fore and aft of the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

. Each gun was provided with 80

rounds Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the numbe ...

. The muzzles of these guns were only above the deck, and were very hard to fight in a seaway due to the spray breaking over the forward turret. Their

secondary armament Secondary armament is a term used to refer to smaller, faster-firing weapons that were typically effective at a shorter range than the main (heavy) weapons on military systems, including battleship- and cruiser-type warships, tanks/armored ...

was originally planned to consist of eight BL guns, but these were replaced during construction by six quick-firing (QF) guns. 200 rounds per gun were carried by the ships. Eight QF 6-pounder and nine QF 3-pounder

Hotchkiss gun The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch (42 mm) light mountain gun; there were also a navy (47 mm) and a 3-inch (76&nbs ...

s were fitted for defence against

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of s ...

s. The ships carried four 14-inch (356 mm)

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed abo ...

s and another pair were added in August 1890. The ''Trafalgar''s' armour scheme was similar to that of ''Dreadnought'', although the waterline belt of

compound armour Compound armour was a type of armour used on warships in the 1880s, developed in response to the emergence of armor-piercing shells and the continual need for reliable protection with the increasing size in naval ordnance. Compound armour was a n ...

did not cover the complete length of the ship and a deck extended fore and aft of the

armoured citadel In a warship an armored citadel is an armored box enclosing the machinery and magazine spaces formed by the armored deck, the waterline belt, and the transverse bulkheads. In many post-World War I warships, armor was concentrated in a very ...

to the

bow Bow often refers to: * Bow and arrow, a weapon * Bowing, bending the upper body as a social gesture * An ornamental knot made of ribbon Bow may also refer to: * Bow (watercraft), the foremost part of a ship or boat * Bow (position), the rower ...

and stern. The belt was long and was thick; it was closed off by traverse bulkheads. Above it was a strake of armour that covered the bases of the gun turrets. Another strake above that protected the secondary armament and was thick. The sides of the gun turrets were 18 inches thick and the conning tower was protected by 14-inch plates.

Construction and career

''Nile'', named after the Battle of the Nile,Silverstone, p. 254 was the third ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy. She was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 8 April 1886 by

Pembroke Dockyard Pembroke Dockyard, originally called Pater Yard, is a former Royal Navy Dockyard in Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire, Wales. History It was founded in 1814, although not formally authorized until the Prince Regent signed the necessary Order in C ...

. The ship was launched on 27 March 1888 by Lady Maud Hamilton, wife of

Lord George Hamilton Lord George Francis Hamilton (17 December 1845 – 22 September 1927) was a British Conservative Party politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who served as First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary of State for India. Background ...

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

. She was completed in July 1890, although her main guns were not delivered until the following year, at a cost of £885,718. After delivery, she was commissioned at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

on 30 June 1891 for manoeuvres, following which she was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet.Parkes, p. 346 When the battleships ''Victoria'' and ''Camperdown'' collided on 22 June 1893, ''Nile'' was next astern and it was only through the skillful manoeuvring of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Gerard Noel that his ship was not also involved in the collision.Heathcote, p. 194 ''Nile'' had her 4.7-inch guns replaced by QF guns in 1896. She came home in January 1898 to become the port guardship at Devonport, and Captain Robert Rolleston was in command in June 1902. She took part in the

fleet review A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...

held at

Spithead Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshir ...

on 16 August 1902 for the

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of o ...

of King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

. In February 1903, the ship was relegated to the reserve at Devonport, where she remained until she was sold on 9 July 1912 for £34,000 to be broken up at Swansea by

Thos. W. Ward Thos. W. Ward Ltd was a Sheffield, Yorkshire, steel, engineering and cement business, which began as coal and coke merchants. It expanded into recycling metal for Sheffield's steel industry, and then the supply and manufacture of machinery. I ...

.Phillips, p. 236

Notes and references

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

HMS ''Nile'' on the Dreadnought Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nile (1888) Trafalgar-class battleships Ships built in Pembroke Dock Victorian-era battleships of the United Kingdom 1888 ships