HMS Orion was a of the 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...

. Originally constructed for the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, and called Bourdjou-Zaffer, she was purchased by the British Government before completion.

She was designed by the Ottoman naval architect Ahmed Pasha and built by Samuda Brothers

Samuda Brothers

Samuda Brothers was an engineering and ship building firm at Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs in London, founded by Jacob and Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda. The site is now occupied by Samuda Estate....

 at Cubitt Town

Cubitt Town

Cubitt Town is an area on the Isle of Dogs in Tower Hamlets in London, England. It is on the east of the Isle, facing Greenwich across the River Thames. To the west is Millwall, to the northwest Canary Wharf and to the north, across the Blue Bridge, Blackwall...

, London under contract for the Ottoman Empire. However, in 1878 she was purchased by the British Government whilst still under construction, in a reaction to the war between the Ottoman Empire and Russia. Her sister, , which was purchased at the same time in an essentially complete state, was modified so as to fit in, as far as possible, with contemporary design in 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...

. Orion, being less advanced in construction at the time of her purchase, was ultimately completed along the same lines.

Her original design called for four 10-inch muzzle-loading rifles in a centrally located box battery

Box battery

The box battery disposition of the main armament in a battleship was commonly used in ships built in the latter half of the nineteenth century; it was an interim disposition between full length broadside guns and turret-mounted artillery....

, but this plan was upgraded to four 12 inches (305 mm) guns during her building. She, and Belleisle were the only British ships ever to mount 12-inch calibre artillery deployed to fire only on the broadside. It was possible, because of the provision of appropriate embrasures in the battery, to bring at least one gun to bear at any angle; proponents of the turret system of armament pointed out that in the turret system two, or possibly four guns could be made to bear on the same target.

Service history

She was commissioned to the Mediterranean Fleet on 24 June 1878. After paying off into the Reserve at Malta in 1883 she was recommissioned in 1885, and served as guardship at Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

until 1890, when she was demoted to the second class reserve at Malta. After refit and repair she remained in dockyard reserve at Chatham until declared non-effective in November 1901. In April 1902 she became a depot-ship at Malta for torpedo-boats, and in 1913 was converted to a store-ship at Devonport under the name of Orontes until her sale in 1913.