HMS ''James Watt'' was a 91-gun steam and sail-powered second rate

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

. She had originally been ordered as one of a two ship class, with her sister , under the name HMS ''Audacious''. She was renamed on 18 November 1847 in honour of

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...

, the purported inventor of the

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

. (The steam engine was actually invented by

Thomas Newcomen Thomas Newcomen (; February 1664 – 5 August 1729) was an English inventor who created the atmospheric engine, the first practical fuel-burning engine in 1712. He was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling. He ...

.) She was the only

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

ship to bear this name. Both ships were reordered as screw propelled ships, ''James Watt'' in 1849, and ''Cressy'' in 1852. ''James Watt'' became one of the four-ship ''Agamemnon''-class of ships of the line. They were initially planned as 80-gun ships, but the first two ships built to the design, and ''James Watt'', were rerated on 26 March 1851 to 91 guns ships, later followed by the remainder of the class. The ship had an overall length of 265 feet 3 inches, length between perpendiculars of 230 feet, and beam of 55 feet 5 inches. Her displacement was 3083 tons and her screw was driven by a 600 hp engine. She was built at the Royal Dockyard,

Pembroke Dock Pembroke Dock ( cy, Doc Penfro) is a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, northwest of Pembroke on the banks of the River Cleddau. Originally Paterchurch, a small fishing village, Pembroke Dock town expanded rapidly following ...

, launched on 23 April 1853 and commissioned at

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

in January 1854 by Captain George Elliot. She served in the Baltic campaigns of 1854 and 1855, despite the poor performance of the ship, and the dissatisfaction of Vice-Admiral Charles Napier. Her machinery, taken second hand from the iron frigate , was found to be unsatisfactory. In August 1855 she was present at

Cronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for "crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of ...

, the Russian Baltic naval base; along with HMS ''Imperieuse'', ''Centaur'' and ''Bulldog'' The fleet was involved in a minor long-range Crimean War engagement near the with the port's batteries and gun-boats on 16 August 1855. By 1856 alterations to the machinery had cost £5,706, and from 1856 to 1857 she was commanded by Captain Talavera Anson. She was sold for breaking up to Castle, of Charlton in January 1875.David James, ''Down the Slipway! Ships of Pembrokeshire's Secret Waterway'' p. 156.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:James Watt Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Victorian-era ships of the line of the United Kingdom Crimean War naval ships of the United Kingdom Ships built in Pembroke Dock 1853 ships