HMS Triumph was a broadside ironclad battleship of the Victorian era, the sister-ship of . These two ships comprise the Swiftsure class

Swiftsure class battleship (1870)

The Swiftsure class battleships of the late Victorian era were broadside ironclads designed and built specifically for service as Flagships on the Pacific station....

 of 1870.

The two sister-ships, which were built side by side by Palmers

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, often referred to simply as Palmers, was a British shipbuilding company. The Company was based in Jarrow, in Northeast England and also had operations in Hebburn and Willington Quay on the River Tyne....

, were designed and built specifically to serve as flagships on distant stations, primarily with the Pacific squadron. They were powered by a Maudslay horizontal twin-cylinder return connecting-rod engine, and were the last British battleships to be fitted with a hoisting screw.

Service history

Triumph was initially commissioned in 1873 for 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...

, being transferred after a short time to the Mediterranean. She paid off in 1877 to be prepared for transfer to the Pacific as flagship, replacing after her indecisive action

Battle of Pacocha

The naval Incident of Pacocha took place on 6 May 1877 when Nicolás de Piérola was leading a revolution to overthrow then Peruvian President Mariano Ignacio Prado. Piérola used the Peruvian monitor Huáscar as a raiding ship. She practiced sabotage primarily against the government forces of Peru...

 against the Peruvian rebel ship Huascar

Huáscar (ship)

Huáscar is a 19th century small armoured turret ship of a type similar to a monitor. She was built in Britain for Peru and played a significant role in the battle of Pacocha and the War of the Pacific against Chile before being captured and commissioned with the Chilean Navy. Today she is one of...

. She was relieved by Swiftsure in 1882 and was refitted at Portsmouth, receiving new boilers and launching rails for torpedoes. She was again Pacific flagship from January 1885 until December 1888, and was present at the official opening of the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 in Vancouver harbour

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

 in 1887 for both ceremonial reasons and protection against a rumoured Fenian

Fenian

The Fenians , both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish republican...

 attack. Her relief at that time by Swiftsure signalled the end of her foreign service. Returning home, she was for a short time in reserve at Devonport, and was then flagship at Queenstown

Cobh

Cobh is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour. Facing the town are Spike Island and Haulbowline Island...

 between February 1890 and September 1892. She returned to the reserve at Devonport, where she remained until July 1900; she was then disarmed to become a depot ship at Plymouth. In 1903, with her machinery removed, she was a training ship for boy artificers at Chatham

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

under the new name of Tenedos. From 1905 she was tender to , and in 1910 was moved to Devonport to form part of the stoker training establishment with the name of Indus IV. She was towed to Invergordon in 1914 to become a floating store with the name of Algiers. She was sold in November 1921, having remained afloat thirteen years longer than her sister.