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HMS St Jean d'Acre (1853)
Encyclopedia
HMS St Jean d'Acre was the Royal Navy's first 101 gun screw two-decker line-of-battle ship
. She served in the Crimean War
.
The St Jean d'Acre was a Surveyor's Department design. The design was approved on 15 February 1851, and she was ordered the same day. Her keel was laid down at Devonport Dockyard in June 1851, and she was launched on 23 March 1853. Her construction used materials collected for a 90 gun Albion
class sailing two-decker line-of-battle ship to be called St Jean d'Acre, which was ordered in 1844, but never laid down, and suspended in 1845.
Her design was a stretched version of the James Watt 91 screw two-decker. She was a successful experiment. In service she was very highly regarded. The Conqueror
was designed as a slightly elongated St Jean d'Acre, and was laid down on the same slip at Devonport on 25 July 1853.
St Jean d'Acre was commissioned at Plymouth by Captain Henry Keppel
on 21 May 1853. She was completed for sea on 20 September 1853. She served in the Western Squadron. Her trials at Stokes Bay were on 3 December 1853, where she made an average of 11.199 knots.
Originally it was intended to fit the 700 nhp Napier engine from the iron-frigate Simoom, but it was decided that as St Jean d'Acre was a new ship, they would order a new engine. She was therefore fitted with a 600 nhp Penn two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion trunk engine. The cylinders were 70.75 in diameter, with a stroke of 3.5 ft. On her Stokes Bay trials on 3 December 1853 the engine generated 2,136 ihp.
In May 1854 she formed part of the Allied Fleet serving in the Baltic against Russia in the Crimean War. In 1855, she joined the fleet in the Black Sea. On 7 July 1855 Captain George King
took command. In September 1856, St Jean d'Acre took Earl Granville
to the coronation of Czar Alexander II
at St Petersburg. Earl Granville was leader of the Liberal party in the House of Lords, and head of the British delegation to Alexander II's coronation. She paid off in 1857 at Plymouth.
Her second commission was from 4 February 1859 to 13 September 1861. St Jean d'Acre served in the Channel and the Mediterranean. She was initially commanded by Captain Thomas Pickering Thompson, until he was invalided out, and Captain Charles Gilbert John Brydone Elliot
took command on 26 September 1860. Forty two of her guns were changed at Gibraltar in July 1861 for others of modem construction.
She was reclassed as a 99-gun ship in 1862 and 81-guns in 1863.
She was sold to Castle's shipbreakers at Charlton in January 1875, and broken up October 1875.
Sources differ about her initial cost. Lambert says £107,561, whilst Lyons and Winfield say £143,708, of which the hull accounted for £81,277 and the machinery £35,770(?).
Genealogical note: John Symons, born Plymouth 1832, is recorded as a Ship's Carpenter on H.M.S. St Jean D'Acre, on the Birth Certificate of his son William Henry Symons, born 13th June 1855, (registered by his mother 2nd July 1855), while his father was in the Baltic.
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
. She served in the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
.
The St Jean d'Acre was a Surveyor's Department design. The design was approved on 15 February 1851, and she was ordered the same day. Her keel was laid down at Devonport Dockyard in June 1851, and she was launched on 23 March 1853. Her construction used materials collected for a 90 gun Albion
HMS Albion (1842)
HMS Albion was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Ordered in 1839, she was built at Plymouth and launched on 6 September 1842, and entered service in 1843. Albion was designed by Sir William Symonds, was the only ship of her class to ever serve as a sailing ship, and the last...
class sailing two-decker line-of-battle ship to be called St Jean d'Acre, which was ordered in 1844, but never laid down, and suspended in 1845.
Her design was a stretched version of the James Watt 91 screw two-decker. She was a successful experiment. In service she was very highly regarded. The Conqueror
HMS Conqueror (1855)
HMS Conqueror was a a 101-gun Conqueror class screw propelled first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1855, but spent only six years in service before being wrecked on Rum Cay in the Bahamas in 1861....
was designed as a slightly elongated St Jean d'Acre, and was laid down on the same slip at Devonport on 25 July 1853.
St Jean d'Acre was commissioned at Plymouth by Captain Henry Keppel
Henry Keppel
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Keppel, GCB, OM was a British admiral, son of the 4th Earl of Albemarle and of his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Lord de Clifford.-Naval career:...
on 21 May 1853. She was completed for sea on 20 September 1853. She served in the Western Squadron. Her trials at Stokes Bay were on 3 December 1853, where she made an average of 11.199 knots.
Originally it was intended to fit the 700 nhp Napier engine from the iron-frigate Simoom, but it was decided that as St Jean d'Acre was a new ship, they would order a new engine. She was therefore fitted with a 600 nhp Penn two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion trunk engine. The cylinders were 70.75 in diameter, with a stroke of 3.5 ft. On her Stokes Bay trials on 3 December 1853 the engine generated 2,136 ihp.
In May 1854 she formed part of the Allied Fleet serving in the Baltic against Russia in the Crimean War. In 1855, she joined the fleet in the Black Sea. On 7 July 1855 Captain George King
George King (Royal Navy officer)
Admiral Sir George St Vincent King KCB was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, China Station.-Naval career:...
took command. In September 1856, St Jean d'Acre took Earl Granville
Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville
Granville George Leveson Gower, 2nd Earl Granville KG, PC FRS , styled Lord Leveson until 1846, was a British Liberal statesman...
to the coronation of Czar Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
at St Petersburg. Earl Granville was leader of the Liberal party in the House of Lords, and head of the British delegation to Alexander II's coronation. She paid off in 1857 at Plymouth.
Her second commission was from 4 February 1859 to 13 September 1861. St Jean d'Acre served in the Channel and the Mediterranean. She was initially commanded by Captain Thomas Pickering Thompson, until he was invalided out, and Captain Charles Gilbert John Brydone Elliot
Charles Elliot (Royal Navy officer)
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Gilbert John Brydone Elliot KCB was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth.-Naval career:...
took command on 26 September 1860. Forty two of her guns were changed at Gibraltar in July 1861 for others of modem construction.
She was reclassed as a 99-gun ship in 1862 and 81-guns in 1863.
She was sold to Castle's shipbreakers at Charlton in January 1875, and broken up October 1875.
Sources differ about her initial cost. Lambert says £107,561, whilst Lyons and Winfield say £143,708, of which the hull accounted for £81,277 and the machinery £35,770(?).
Footnotes
Genealogical note: John Symons, born Plymouth 1832, is recorded as a Ship's Carpenter on H.M.S. St Jean D'Acre, on the Birth Certificate of his son William Henry Symons, born 13th June 1855, (registered by his mother 2nd July 1855), while his father was in the Baltic.