HMS ''Abyssinia'' was a

breastwork monitor A breastwork monitor was a modification of the monitor, a warship which was first built in the United States in 1861, designed by John Ericsson and distinguished by the first rotating gun turret, designed by Theodore Timby. The modified desig ...

ordered, designed and built by

J & W Dudgeon J & W Dudgeon was a Victorian shipbuilding and engineering company based in Cubitt Town, London, founded by John and William Dudgeon. John and William Dudgeon had established the ''Sun Iron Works'' in Millwall in the 1850s, and had a reputatio ...

specifically for the

Bombay Marine The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the Armed Forces of British India. Fr ...

for the defence of the harbour at

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. She was designed by

Sir Edward Reed Sir Edward James Reed, KCB, FRS (20 September 1830 – 30 November 1906) was a British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870. He was a Liberal politicia ...

, and was a smaller version of, and hence a half-sister to, the s and . It was intended that ''Abyssinia'' and ''Magdala'' would serve in mutual support on the same station. Given that the stipulated naval requirement was for two ships for the coastal defence of the Bombay area, the India Office were pressed by the

Board of Admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...

and the

Chief Constructor The Director of Naval Construction (DNC) also known as the Department of the Director of Naval Construction and Directorate of Naval Construction and originally known as the Chief Constructor of the Navy was a senior principal civil officer resp ...

to order two ships of the ''Cerberus'' class. After the placing of the order for ''Magdala'', budgetary limitations meant that a smaller, cheaper vessel had to be acquired. ''Abyssinia'', while being similar in layout to ''Magdala'', was smaller and cost £20,000 less. She had slightly less freeboard, a shorter breastwork, could carry less coal and had about one knot less speed. The ferry trip out to her base in Bombay was made under her own power, without the use of any sail whatsoever. Unlike her half-sisters, the hull was not built up for the trip, which she made in a faster time than they did.

Service history

''Abyssinia'' remained at anchor in Bombay harbour, other than for occasional brief trips for firing practice, for the whole of her service career. When the Indian Harbour Defence Service was discontinued in 1903, she was sold locally and broken up.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Abyssinia (1870) Monitors of the Royal Navy Ships built in Cubitt Town 1870 ships

Service history

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