HMS Thunderer (1872)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Devastation-class battleship |
| Name: | HMS Thunderer |
| Builder: | Pembroke Dockyard |
| Laid down: | June 26, 1869 |
| Launched: | 25 March 1872 |
| Commissioned: | May 26, 1877 |
| Decommissioned: | 1909 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping July 1909 to T.W. Ward, Inverkeithing, United Kingdom |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: |
9,180 LT (9,330 MT) standard |
| Length: | 285 ft (87 m) |
| Beam: | 62 ft 3 in (19.0 m) |
| Draught: | 27 ft 6 in (8.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | As built: 2 cylinder Humphreys and Tennant engines, 8 rectangular 30 psi (210 kPa) boilers, 6,270 ihp (4,680 kW) = 13.4 kn (24.8 km/h) (1890) Triple Expansion engines, cylindrical boilers |
| Speed: | 14 kn (26 km/h) maximum (following 1890 modernisation) |
| Complement: | 410 |
| Armament: | Four 38 ton 12 in (305 mm) muzzle loading rifles (1890) Four 10 in breech loaders, six 6 pounder (2.7 kg), eight 3 pounders. Two 14 in Torpedo Launchers added 1881. |
| Armour: | 10 to 12 in (254 to 305 mm) belt |
HMS Thunderer was a British Royal Navy Devastation-class battleship.
On 14 July 1876 shortly after completion she suffered a disastrous boiler explosion which killed 45 people when one of her eight 30 pound per square inch (210 kPa) boilers burst as she proceeded from Portsmouth Harbour to Stokes Bay to carry out a full power trial.
The explosion killed 15 people instantly, including her captain who was in the boiler room at the time and injured around 70 others, of whom 30 later died. The reason for the explosion was that the pressure gauge was broken and the safety valves had seized through corrosion.
She suffered another serious accident in January 1879 when one of her 12-inch (305 mm) guns exploded during practice firing in the Sea of Marmora killing 11 and injuring a further 35. The reason for this accident was that the muzzle-loading gun had been double loaded following a misfire, and was a major reason for the Royal Navy changing to breech loading guns.
She was refitted in 1881 and equipped with triple expansion engines, which roughly halved her coal consumption at 80% power (and thus doubled her range), paving the way for the widespread introduction of these engines in the Royal Navy.
Further extensive modifications were carried out in 1890-1892.
[edit] References
- Accidents on HMS Thunderer
- Roger Chesneau and Eugene M. Kolesnik, ed., Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979), ISBN 0-85177-133-5
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