HMS ''Prince Consort'' was the first ship to carry this name in the Royal Navy. Laid down as HMS ''Triumph'', at HM Royal Dockyard, Pembroke as a 91-gun screw
second-rate line-of-battle
The line of battle is a tactic in naval warfare in which a fleet of ships forms a line end to end. The first example of its use as a tactic is disputed—it has been variously claimed for dates ranging from 1502 to 1652. Line-of-battle tacti ...
ship, she was renamed HMS ''Prince Consort'' on 14 February 1862 following the death of
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel; 26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the consort of Queen Victoria from their marriage on 10 February 1840 until his death in 1861.
Albert was born in the Saxon duch ...
, the husband of Queen Victoria.
Her first posting after commissioning was to Liverpool; on her passage there, in an Irish Sea gale, it was found that she did not have enough scuppers fitted to discharge seawater coming aboard, and almost foundered. She served in the
Channel Fleet
The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915.
History
Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history the ...
from 1864 until 1867, when she was
paid off
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...
to re-arm. From 1867 to 1871 she formed part of the
Mediterranean Fleet
The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...
, until she was brought home for a further re-armament. Notwithstanding this expense, she saw no further sea service, and by 1882 had fallen into disrepair, and was sold.
The "Prince Consort" brought passengers to Queensland (Australia) on 26 July 1862, 2 November 1862, 22 December 1863 and 30 March 1864, sailing from the English ports of Liverpool, Plymouth and Southampton.
["Passenger Ships Arriving in Australasian Ports - Queensland Shipping - Passenger Ships into Queensland (1866-1875)" http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/shipping/mig-qld2.htm#qld2 ]
''Prince Consort'' was widely regarded as being the second-worst roller in the entire fleet, being exceeded in this only by .
Footnotes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
* (E-Book References – Due to the page numbers being variable, only the Chapter or Section of the book will be listed)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince Consort (1862)
Bulwark-class battleships (1859)
Prince Consort-class ironclads
Ships built in Pembroke Dock
1864 ships
Victorian-era battleships of the United Kingdom
Maritime incidents in October 1863
Maritime incidents in November 1869