HMS Alexandra built by Chatham Dockyard and launched 7th April
1875. Sold for breaking up 6th October 1908.
HMS
Alexandra was the last British battleship to carry her main
armament wholly below decks; she was one of only two British
ships to mount guns of 11-inch (280 mm) calibre, the other being
HMS Temeraire.
She
was the first British warship to be powered by vertical compound
engines, carrying cylindrical high-pressure boilers with a working
pressure of 60 pounds-force per square inch, as compared to
rectangular boilers working at 30 lbf/inch pressure mounted
in earlier ships.
It
had been intended to call the ship HMS Superb, but the name
was changed at her launching, which was undertaken by Her Royal
Highness the Princess of Wales, who was later Queen Alexandra.
She was the first British ironclad to be launched by a member
of the Royal Family; the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the
Duke and Duchess of Teck and the Duke of Cambridge were also
present.
She
was commissioned at Chatham on 2nd January 1877 as flagship,
Mediterranean Fleet, and held this position continuously until
1889. She was the flagship of Admiral Hornby in his passage
through the Dardanelles during the Russian war scare of 1878.
She ran aground in bad weather at the narrowest part of the
straight; she was towed off by HMS Sultan in time to lead the
squadron to Constaninople.
She
was present at the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882; in this
action the Admiral's flag was shifted to HMS Invincible, as
she was of shallower draught and could sail closer to shore.
In 1886, the Duke of Edinburgh hoisted his flag on board, and
the Prince of Wales, later King George V, joined as a lieutenant.
She paid off in 1889 for modernisation. In 1891, she was flagship
of the reserve at Portland, and remained so until 1901. Her
last sea-time was as flagship of the "B" fleet in
the manoevres of 1900. In 1903 she became a mechanical training
ship, and she was sold in 1908.
