HMS Repulse (1868)

Right profile of Repulse
History
United Kingdom
NameRepulse
Ordered
  • 1 April 1857
  • Reordered, 9 October 1866
BuilderHM Dockyard, Woolwich
Laid down29 April 1859
Launched25 April 1868
Completed31 January 1870
Commissioned28 February 1870
FateSold for scrap, February 1889
General characteristics (as completed)
TypeCentral-battery armoured frigate
Tonnage3,734 (bm)
Displacement6,190 long tons (6,290 t)
Length252 ft (76.8 m) (p/p)
Beam59 ft (18 m)
Draught25 ft 10 in (7.9 m)
Installed power
Propulsion1 shaft; 1 trunk steam engine
Sail planShip-rigged
Speed
  • 12.3 knots (22.8 km/h; 14.2 mph) (under power)
  • 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) (under sail)
Range1,800 nautical miles (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph)
Complement515
Armament12 × 8 in (203 mm) muzzle-loading rifles
Armour

HMS Repulse was a wooden-hulled, central-battery ironclad built for the Royal Navy (RN) during the 1860s. She was laid down as a 91-gun, second-rate Bulwark-class ship of the line, but work on the ship was suspended until the performance of earlier conversions from wooden ships of the line to ironclads could be assessed. Construction resumed in 1866 and she was completed in 1870, the last British wooden-hulled battleship to be completed. Repulse was assigned as a guard ship in Scotland for two years before she became the flagship of the Pacific Station in 1872. The ship returned home in 1877 and was placed in reserve upon her arrival. During this voyage, she became the only British ironclad ever to round the Horn under sail. Repulse was re-commissioned in 1881 as a guard ship. She was reduced to reserve in 1885 and sold for scrap in 1889.