RN Ironclads

[Brian James]

Lead Ship, Second Class Battleship HMS Colossus pictured in 1905...Launched at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1882 and commissioned in 1886. She had a displacement of 9,520 tons, and an armament of 4 ×12-inch breechloaders, 5× 6-inch guns and had a respectable speed of 15.5 knots. She was one of the first, if not the first, modern Battleship. She had several features which would be standard for all gun warships up to the Second World War including all steel construction, a main battery of breech loading major caliber guns (ie. 10 inches or greater) mounted in turrets and was propelled only by steam engines instead of a combination of steam and sails - as was common in the mid-19th century....She was sold for breaking up in 1908.

[Brian James]

Hydraulic loading system for BL 12 inch main armament on Colossus Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship HMS Edinburgh.