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HMS Vanguard (1835)
Encyclopedia
The sixth HMS Vanguard, of the British Royal Navy
was an 78-gun (or 80-gun) second-rate
ship of the line
, launched on 25 August 1835 at Pembroke Yard
. She was the first of a new type of sailing battleship: a Symondite.
. The Vanguard was the first of a class of eleven. She was ordered from Pembroke Yard
in June 1832; HMS Collingwood
was ordered 'as a duplicate frame using the moulds of Vanguard, to test the efficacy of an American scheme whereby duplicate frames were stored for many years.' Vanguard was laid down in May 1833; she required 60 skilled men for 16 weeks to set up the frame. She was launched on schedule in August 1835. At the time she was the broadest ship ever built in England
. 'Vanguard cost £56,983 to build, and a further £20,756 to fit for sea.' Her construction used 3,560 loads of timber and required 186 man-years.
Symondite warships were very broad, and had a sharp 'V'-shaped hull-form. (Preceding designs had a 'U'-shaped hull form.)
Symondite warships were very sensitive to how they were stowed. If trimmed carefully, they were fast in moderate winds, thought they did not do as well as preceding designs in head seas, or rough seas.
Compared with previous designs, Symondite warships required 19% more loads of wood and 30% more man-hours to build.
Some of the Symondite warships were converted to steam in the 1850s (though not Vanguard). Their 'V'-shaped hull made it difficult to add a steam engine and boilers and to store coal. The extra weight was low in the ship, exacerbating their excess stability, which made their rolling even worse than before. (In fairness, at the time they were designed, it was never anticipated that they would be converted to steam.)
as First Lieutenant and Mr Miller, one of Symonds's favourite sailing masters. The object was clear. Symonds wanted his ships to be tried by men capable of making the best of their qualities... Out in the Mediterranean Vanguard soon made a name for herself as the fastest ship in the fleet, with the handiness of a frigate when beat out of Grand Harbour [Malta].' At the end of her first three year commission Captain Fellowes wrote that Vanguard had 'great stability' was 'very easy at sea and works less than ships of her class' and had 'great advantage in all points of sailing.'
On the night of 30 January 1838, Vanguard was at Malta
under the command of Captain Sir Thomas Fellowes. The ship's First Lieutenant, C.M.M. Wright, ordered the Assistant Surgeon, Robert Thomas Charles Scott, to stomach-pump a drunken seaman. Scott expressed the medical opinion that a stomach-pump should not be administered. Wright ordered him to give it anyway as a punishment and reminded Scott that it was an order he had received. A short while later Wright ordered Scott to do the same to another seaman. The next morning Scott reported the matter to Commander Baldwin Walker who reported Scott to the Captain for disrespect and disobedience of a lawful order. Captain Fellowes threatened Scott with a court martial and reported him to Sir William Burnett
, the Physician-General of the Navy. When this affair became public knowledge, an Admiralty
Order was issued banning the use of a stomach-pump as a punishment.
Captain David Dunn commanded Vanguard from 2 April 1843 to August 1843. Vanguard again served in the Mediterranean (including operations on the coast of Syria in 1840), and off Lisbon. In October 1843 Vanguard was out of commission at Devonport.
On 4 February 1845, Vanguard was commissioned by Captain George Wickens Willes, and served in the Channel Squadron, the 1845 and 1846 Evolutionary Squadrons, and in Mediterranean.
In the first trial of the Evolutionary Squadron of 1845, Vanguard (Captain George Willes) and her sister Superb
(Captain Anwar Lowry Corry) were the slowest battleships in the squadron. The Surveyor (Symonds) thought that they had been badly stowed and needed recoppering. Once this was done they performed well. Vanguard's captain wrote: 'such an entire change has taken place in her motion at sea, steering and working generally (although she is still deficient in her weights low down) that I can scarcely bring myself to believe she is the same ship.' Vanguard was refitted after the 1845 trials (as were Superb and Canopus
). In the August 1846 trials, Vanguard and Canopus were 'nearly alike in performance, with the former superior in smooth water, and the latter in rough.' (The significance of Canopus is that she was regarded as one of the best of the previous type of 84-gun two-deckers.)
In May 1846 Evolutionary Squadron exercised firing the stern batteries. This was a rare occurrence and reflects no credit on any of the two-deckers:
Captain Willes died on 26 October 1847. Captain George Frederick Rich commanded Vanguard in the Mediterranean from 6 November 1847 until Vanguard paid off in March 1849.
Vanguard did not see service during the Crimean War.
Unlike most members of the Vanguard-class
, Vanguard was not converted to steam.
Vanguard's last commission was as Coast Guard at Kingston from 18 February 1861 to March 1862, commanded by Commanded by Captain Edmund Heathcote.
Vanguard was renamed Ajax in 1867, to allow her former name to be given to an ironclad battleship
then being laid down in the ways. Ajax (ex-Vanguard) was broken up in 1875.
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...
was an 78-gun (or 80-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
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...
, launched on 25 August 1835 at Pembroke Yard
Pembroke Dock
Pembroke Dock is a town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, lying north of Pembroke on the River Cleddau. Originally a small fishing village known as Paterchurch, the town was greatly expanded from 1814 onwards following the construction of a Royal Naval Dockyard...
. She was the first of a new type of sailing battleship: a Symondite.
Construction
The Vanguard was designed by John Edye, Chief Clerk in the Surveyor's Office, to the directions of the Surveyor, Captain Sir William SymondsWilliam Symonds
Sir William Symonds FRS was "Surveyor of the Navy" in the Royal Navy from 9 June 1832 to October 1847, and took part in the naval reforms instituted by the Whig First Lord of the Admiralty Sir James Robert George Graham in 1832.-Early life:He was the second son...
. The Vanguard was the first of a class of eleven. She was ordered from Pembroke Yard
Pembroke Dock
Pembroke Dock is a town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, lying north of Pembroke on the River Cleddau. Originally a small fishing village known as Paterchurch, the town was greatly expanded from 1814 onwards following the construction of a Royal Naval Dockyard...
in June 1832; HMS Collingwood
HMS Collingwood (1841)
HMS Collingwood was an 80-gun two-deck second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 August 1841 at Pembroke Dockyard.She was fitted with screw propulsion in 1861, and sold out of the navy in 1867.-References:...
was ordered 'as a duplicate frame using the moulds of Vanguard, to test the efficacy of an American scheme whereby duplicate frames were stored for many years.' Vanguard was laid down in May 1833; she required 60 skilled men for 16 weeks to set up the frame. She was launched on schedule in August 1835. At the time she was the broadest ship ever built in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. 'Vanguard cost £56,983 to build, and a further £20,756 to fit for sea.' Her construction used 3,560 loads of timber and required 186 man-years.
Characteristics of Symondite warships
Warships designed to the ideas of Captain Sir William Symonds (1782-1856) are known as Symondite warships, although the adjective has no official use as terminology. His intention was to give the Royal Navy an advantage in speed (under certain weather conditions), allowing it to force action.Symondite warships were very broad, and had a sharp 'V'-shaped hull-form. (Preceding designs had a 'U'-shaped hull form.)
- Their wide beam gave them very high stability, which allowed them to carry nearly twice the power of sail as vessels of the old type. Unfortunately the Surveyor's department was understaffed, with the result that their stability was over-done. Symondite warships rolled quickly, heavily and sometimes unevenly. This made them poor gun platforms. The rapid rolling also caused the rigging to wear out more quickly than on previous designs.
- Because Symondite warships got their stability from their great beam, they did not need to carry so much iron ballast as previous designs.
- Their 'V'-shaped hull with its steeply rising floors was inconvenient for carrying stores.
- They had higher and wider gun decks than preceding designs. This gave the gun crews more space to work in, improving efficiency. It also helped their sailing performance, because they were carrying fewer guns for their size.
- They had an excessively raked stern. In some ships, modifications to their sterns to remedy defects in the original design left "the stern timbers badly arranged, weakly supported and held together with iron straps." The Symondite stern "lacked the defensive strength of the true round stern. There was simply too much glass to offer any protection to the crews of the stern battery in action."
Symondite warships were very sensitive to how they were stowed. If trimmed carefully, they were fast in moderate winds, thought they did not do as well as preceding designs in head seas, or rough seas.
Compared with previous designs, Symondite warships required 19% more loads of wood and 30% more man-hours to build.
Some of the Symondite warships were converted to steam in the 1850s (though not Vanguard). Their 'V'-shaped hull made it difficult to add a steam engine and boilers and to store coal. The extra weight was low in the ship, exacerbating their excess stability, which made their rolling even worse than before. (In fairness, at the time they were designed, it was never anticipated that they would be converted to steam.)
Service Life
Vanguard was commissioned in 1837 by Captain Sir Thomas Fellowes, with the normal picked complement of officers, including Baldwin WalkerBaldwin Wake Walker
Admiral Sir Baldwin Wake Walker, 1st Baronet KCB was Surveyor of the Navy from 1848 to 1861. and was responsible for the Royal Navy's warship construction programme during the 1850s naval arms race and at the time of the introduction of the Ironclad warship; it was his decision to build HMS...
as First Lieutenant and Mr Miller, one of Symonds's favourite sailing masters. The object was clear. Symonds wanted his ships to be tried by men capable of making the best of their qualities... Out in the Mediterranean Vanguard soon made a name for herself as the fastest ship in the fleet, with the handiness of a frigate when beat out of Grand Harbour [Malta].' At the end of her first three year commission Captain Fellowes wrote that Vanguard had 'great stability' was 'very easy at sea and works less than ships of her class' and had 'great advantage in all points of sailing.'
On the night of 30 January 1838, Vanguard was at Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
under the command of Captain Sir Thomas Fellowes. The ship's First Lieutenant, C.M.M. Wright, ordered the Assistant Surgeon, Robert Thomas Charles Scott, to stomach-pump a drunken seaman. Scott expressed the medical opinion that a stomach-pump should not be administered. Wright ordered him to give it anyway as a punishment and reminded Scott that it was an order he had received. A short while later Wright ordered Scott to do the same to another seaman. The next morning Scott reported the matter to Commander Baldwin Walker who reported Scott to the Captain for disrespect and disobedience of a lawful order. Captain Fellowes threatened Scott with a court martial and reported him to Sir William Burnett
William Burnett
Sir William Burnett M.D. KCB was a British physician who served as Physician-General of the Royal Navy after 9 June 1832....
, the Physician-General of the Navy. When this affair became public knowledge, an Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
Order was issued banning the use of a stomach-pump as a punishment.
Captain David Dunn commanded Vanguard from 2 April 1843 to August 1843. Vanguard again served in the Mediterranean (including operations on the coast of Syria in 1840), and off Lisbon. In October 1843 Vanguard was out of commission at Devonport.
On 4 February 1845, Vanguard was commissioned by Captain George Wickens Willes, and served in the Channel Squadron, the 1845 and 1846 Evolutionary Squadrons, and in Mediterranean.
In the first trial of the Evolutionary Squadron of 1845, Vanguard (Captain George Willes) and her sister Superb
HMS Superb (1842)
HMS Superb was a two-deck 80-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 September 1842 at Pembroke Dockyard.She was one of the Vanguard class, designed by Sir William Symonds, Surveyor of the Navy and an innovative and controversial naval architect...
(Captain Anwar Lowry Corry) were the slowest battleships in the squadron. The Surveyor (Symonds) thought that they had been badly stowed and needed recoppering. Once this was done they performed well. Vanguard's captain wrote: 'such an entire change has taken place in her motion at sea, steering and working generally (although she is still deficient in her weights low down) that I can scarcely bring myself to believe she is the same ship.' Vanguard was refitted after the 1845 trials (as were Superb and Canopus
HMS Canopus (1798)
HMS Canopus was an 80-gun third rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. She had previously served with the French Navy as the Tonnant-class Franklin, but was captured after less than a year in service by the British fleet under Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of the Nile in 1798...
). In the August 1846 trials, Vanguard and Canopus were 'nearly alike in performance, with the former superior in smooth water, and the latter in rough.' (The significance of Canopus is that she was regarded as one of the best of the previous type of 84-gun two-deckers.)
In May 1846 Evolutionary Squadron exercised firing the stern batteries. This was a rare occurrence and reflects no credit on any of the two-deckers:
- Vanguard took ten minutes to clear for action and then fired two rounds from each stern gun. However the extreme overhang of the stern prevented the muzzles running clear, with the result that there was a minor fire.
- Superb took 15 minutes to clear for action plus an hour to remove her sashes, and then was able to fire without incident.
- Canopus was excused firing altogether.
Captain Willes died on 26 October 1847. Captain George Frederick Rich commanded Vanguard in the Mediterranean from 6 November 1847 until Vanguard paid off in March 1849.
Vanguard did not see service during the Crimean War.
Unlike most members of the Vanguard-class
Vanguard class ship of the line
The Vanguard-class ships of the line were a class of two-deck 80-gun second rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir William Symonds, of which nine were completed as sailing ships of the line, although another two of these were completed as steam warships.They were originally planned as 78-gun...
, Vanguard was not converted to steam.
Vanguard's last commission was as Coast Guard at Kingston from 18 February 1861 to March 1862, commanded by Commanded by Captain Edmund Heathcote.
Vanguard was renamed Ajax in 1867, to allow her former name to be given to an ironclad battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
then being laid down in the ways. Ajax (ex-Vanguard) was broken up in 1875.