The eighth HMS ''Vanguard'' of the British
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 ...
was an
central battery ironclad
The central battery ship, also known as a centre battery ship in the United Kingdom and as a casemate ship in European continental navies, was a development of the (high-freeboard) broadside ironclad of the 1860s, given a substantial boost due t ...
battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
, by Edward Reed
launched in 1870. In 1875, the ship was sunk during a summer cruise in a collision in fog with the ironclad . None of the crew were lost, but the commanding officer of the ship never commanded another vessel in his career. The wreck lies near the
Kish lightship off the coast of Ireland and is protected under the Irish
National Monument Act.
Design and construction
''Vanguard'' was long
between perpendiculars
Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the stern ...
. She had a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and a
draught of forward and aft. The ship normally displaced .
Propulsion
''Vanguard'' was with two sets of 2-cylinder horizontal single expansion, return connecting-rod and 6 rectangular boilers that drove twin screws. The engine had a total designed output of which gave ''Vanguard'' a maximum speed of .
Armament
Her armament consisted of ten 12-ton MLR guns all in a two-tier central battery where six were on MD and two on UD. Furthermore she had four /64-pounder (71 cwt) MLR on UD, with two forward and two aft and six 20-pounder guns for saluting.
[Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889 p. 250]
Service history
''Vanguard'' — under the command of
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...
, sailed out of Kingstown (now
Dún Laoghaire
Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown.
The town was built following the 1816 legislation that allowed the building of a major port to serve Dubli ...
) harbour on 27 August 1875 in company with three other ironclads, , and . The ships were part of the First Reserve Squadron and were on a summer cruise around the Irish coast. The squadron — under the command of
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
Tarleton
Tarleton is a village and civil parish in the borough of West Lancashire, Lancashire, England. It situated in the Lancashire mosslands approximately 10 miles north east of Southport, approximately 10 miles south west of Preston, approximately ...
, was ''en route'' to Queenstown (
Cobh
Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's ...
),
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...
where the cruise would finish. As they passed the
Kish lightship, a heavy fog came down which restricted visibility to less than a ship's length.
''Vanguard''s sister ship — ''Iron Duke'' — noticed she was drifting off course and began returning to her proper station. A problem with her steam plant rendered her
foghorn
A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. W ...
inoperable, and could not be used to alert the other vessels of her position or course.
At about 12:50, a
look-out
A lookout or look-out is a person in charge of the observation of hazards. The term originally comes from a naval background, where lookouts would watch for other ships, land, and various dangers. The term has now passed into wider parlance.
...
on ''Vanguard'' spotted a sailing ship directly ahead. As ''Vanguard'' turned to avoid it, ''Iron Duke'' appeared out of the fog on her port side less than away. Collision was unavoidable. ''Iron Duke''s underwater
ram
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* Ra ...
tore open ''Vanguard''s hull near her boilers.
''Iron Duke'' freed herself after a few minutes, sustaining only minor damage. ''Vanguard'', however, was sinking. Her pumps could move water at a rate of 3,000 lb/min (23 kg/s) but the flooding exceeded 50
long tons per minute (847 kg/s). The pumps were powered by the engines, which shut down ten minutes after the collision when the engine room flooded.
![The loss of the Vanguard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/The_loss_of_the_Vanguard.jpg)
''Vanguard'' and ''Iron Duke'' both launched all boats. The abandonment was completed in good order with Captain Dawkins the last of the 360 crew aboard to leave and the only casualty was his dog which was lost. ''Warrior'' and ''Hector'' sailed on in the fog and only learned of the sinking upon reaching Queenstown.
Seventy minutes after the collision, ''Vanguard'' rested on the seabed deep. The tips of her masts were still visible above the surface. The
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
* Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
* Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
*Admiralty, Tr ...
was confident that the ship could be raised and diving operations started, but were soon abandoned. Captain Dawkins was blamed at the
court martial
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
for not doing enough to save his vessel following the collision, and never received command of another vessel. Contemporary popular opinion, however, was sympathetic towards him.
The wreck was rediscovered in 1985 and lies in of water. The wreck is protected under the Irish
National Monument Act, and a licence from the National Monuments Service is required to dive it.
Notes and references
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
* R. Winfield/D. Lyon: ''The Sail and Steam Navy List. All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889''. Chatham Publishing, London 2004,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanguard (1869)
Audacious-class ironclads
Victorian-era battleships of the United Kingdom
Maritime accidents involving fog
Shipwrecks in the Irish Sea
1870 ships
Maritime incidents in September 1875
Ships sunk in collisions
Ships with box type boilers