HMS Agamemnon was a Victorian Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 Ajax class ironclad turret battleship

Ajax class battleship

The Ajax class of battleships consisted of two ships, and . They were ironclad ships serving in the Victorian Royal Navy, armed with turret-mounted main armament....

, the sister-ship of .

Agamemnon and Ajax were built to the same design, and were smaller and less expensive versions of Inflexible

HMS Inflexible (1876)

HMS Inflexible was a Victorian ironclad battleship carrying her main armament in centrally placed turrets. The ship was constructed in the 1870s for the Royal Navy to oppose the perceived growing threat from the Italian Regia Marina in the Mediterranean.The Italian Navy had started constructing a...

. The class is known as the Ajax class

Ajax class battleship

The Ajax class of battleships consisted of two ships, and . They were ironclad ships serving in the Victorian Royal Navy, armed with turret-mounted main armament....

 because Ajax was laid down first although Agamemnon was completed one day before her sister.

The class was designed with a very small length to beam ratio, it being thought at the time that this would increase fuel economy. This turned out not to be the case, and also and quite unexpectedly produced the need for a large amount of helm to be applied, sometimes to port and sometimes starboard, to keep the ship on a straight course. It is reported that on one occasion Agamemnon, with her helm amidships, turned a complete circle in 9 minutes and 10 seconds.

The armament of this class was carried in two turrets mounted in the waist of the ship. The turrets were carried 'en echelon', and the intention was that at least two heavy guns would be able to bear on any point of the compass. In practice it was found that firing along the line of the keel produced unacceptable blast damage to the superstructure, so that in reality the turrets could only fire on beam arcs.

Service history

She was commissioned in September 1884 for service on the China Station. During her passage out, during the Russian war scare, she shadowed the Russian cruiser Vladimir Monomakh. She grounded several times in the Suez canal

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...

, holding up traffic for some days. On her return to the Mediterranean in 1886 she had her stern altered at Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 in an attempt to correct her steering problems. She did temporary duty through most of 1889 on the East Indies station, and served as part of the blockading fleet off Zanzibar

Zanzibar

Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...

 in the attempt to curb the slave trade there. She rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet where she stayed until 1892, paying off thereafter into the Reserve, and in 1896 into the Fleet Reserve. Made non-effective in 1901, she was sold for scrap in 1903.