HMS Calcutta was an 84-gun second-rate

Second-rate

In the British Royal Navy, 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 and were originally two-deckers or had only partially armed third gun decks. The term in no way implied...

 ship-of-the-line of the 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...

, built in teak

Teak

Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...

 to a draught by Sir Robert Seppings

Robert Seppings

Sir Robert Seppings FRS was an English naval architect.Seppings was born at Fakenham, Norfolk, and in 1782 was apprenticed in Plymouth dockyard...

 and launched on 14 March 1831 in Bombay. She was the only ship ever built to her draught. She carried her complement of smooth-bore, muzzle-loading guns on two gundecks. Her complement was 720 men (38 officers, 69 petty officers, 403 seamen, 60 boys and 150 marines).

In 1855 the ship had been in reserve, but was recommissioned for the war between Russia and Britain and sailed for the Baltic. After two months she was sent home again, as being useless for modern naval actions.

She saw action in the Second Opium War

Second Opium War

The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China, lasting from 1856 to 1860...

 as the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, under the command of Captain William King-Hall

William King-Hall

Admiral Sir William King-Hall KCB was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, The Nore.-Naval career:King-Hall joined the Royal Navy in 1829 and took part in operations off the coast of Syria in 1840...

. In 1858 Calcutta visited Nagasaki where she stayed for one week, becoming the first ship-of-the-line to visit Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

In 1865, she was converted to a gunnery ship, moored at Devonport, Devon

Devonport, Devon

Devonport, formerly named Plymouth Dock or just Dock, is a district of Plymouth in the English county of Devon, although it was, at one time, the more important settlement. It became a county borough in 1889...

, with HMS Cambridge

HMS Cambridge (1815)

HMS Cambridge was an 80-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 June 1815 at Deptford Dockyard. She was built to the lines of the Danish ship Christian VII, which had been captured in 1807 at the Second Battle of Copenhagen....

. She was sold to breakers in 1908. Her figurehead was acquired by Admiral Lord Fisher, then First Sea Lord

First Sea Lord

The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...

, as she had been his first seagoing ship.