HMS Agamemnon (1852)
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| Ship data | ||
| Owner: | British Royal Navy | |
| Surname: | HMS Agamemnon | |
| Order: | 1849 | |
| Launching ( ship christening ): | 1852 | |
| Maiden voyage: | May 3, 1853 | |
| Costs: | £ 141,299 | |
| Crew: | 860 officers and crew grades | |
| Technical specifications | ||
| Type: | Battery ship (timber construction, two-decker) | |
| Length over all: | 70.87 m | |
| Width: | 16.87 m | |
| Drive: | 600 HP sails and steam engine | |
| Tonnage : | 3,085 t | |
| Displacement : | 4,614 t | |
| Draft: | 6.86 m | |
| Armament: | ||
| Cannon deck | 34 × 8 inch cannons | |
| Upper battery deck | 22 × 32 pound cannons 1 × 68 pound cannon |
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| Lower battery deck | 34 × 32-pound cannons | |
The HMS Agamemnon was a 91-gun ship of the line that was in service with the British Royal Navy from 1853 to 1870.
It was ordered by the British Admiralty in 1849 after an obvious threat from France . This vigorously promoted the development of ships of the so-called Napoléon class , which prompted the British to provide a counterweight.
The Agamemnon was the first British ship of the line to be designed as a steam-powered sailing ship from the keel up.
Steam propulsion had an immense advantage over sail propulsion during a battle, as you could approach an enemy ship regardless of the wind and thus almost completely exclude the wind component in terms of tactical driving maneuvers.
At the time, however, it was assumed that the ship would be propelled by sails for most of the time, as steam engines at that time were not yet particularly powerful. For this reason, the Agamemnon was still equipped with three masts and full sails, as was common with large warships at that time, despite the steam drive. It was still not the first steam-powered warship to be completed; this was the HMS Sans Pareil , completed in 1852 , a pre-existing second-rate ship of the line, which for the first time received steam propulsion as an auxiliary drive for the sails.
The ship was armed with muzzle-loading cannons spread over two decks, as was customary for warships of the time.
The Agamemnon was assigned to the British Mediterranean Fleet and served as the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons during the Crimean War .
Between 1857 and 1858 the Agamemnon was equipped as a cable ship. She laid the eastern half of the first transatlantic telegraph cable .
The ship was sold for scrapping in 1870.
literature
- Andrew Lambert : Battleships in Transition. The Creation of the Steam Battlefleet 1815-1860. Conway Maritime Press, London 1984, ISBN 0-85177-315-X .
- Oscar Parkes: British Battleships. "Warrior" (1860) to "Vanguard" (1950). A History of Design, Construction and Armament. Seeley Service & Co, London 1957 (new edition. United States Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 1990, ISBN 1-55750-075-4 ).
