HMS Prince Consort was laid down at Pembroke as the 91-gun second rate battleship HMS Triumph, but her name was changed in February 1862 in memory of the recently deceased Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Her first posting after commissioning was to Liverpool; on her passage there, in an Irish Sea gale, it was found that she did not have enough scuppers fitted to discharge seawater coming aboard, and almost foundered. She served in the Channel Fleet

Channel Fleet

The Channel Fleet was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1690 to 1909.-History:The Channel Fleet dates back at least to 1690 when its role was to defend England against the French threat under the leadership of Edward Russell, 1st Earl of...

 from 1864 until 1867, when she was paid off to re-arm. From 1867 to 1871 she formed part of the Mediterranean Fleet, until she was brought home for a further re-armament. Notwithstanding this expense, she saw no further sea service, and by 1882 had fallen into disrepair, and was sold.

The Prince Consort was widely regarded as being the second-worse roller in the entire Fleet, being exceeded in this only by .

She and were the only ships of the class to be rigged with double topsails, as this rig was abolished in the Royal Navy before the last two ships were completed. The limited area of canvas spread, compared to preceding classes, combined with the drag caused by a disconnecting but non-lifting screw made them at best indifferent performers when under sail.

It was found necessary to place the engines amidships, rather than towards the stern, which had been the case in earlier ironclads. This gave rise to an unusually wide spacing of the two funnels, one being midway between fore and main mast, and one being midway between main and mizzen.