HMS Agamemnon (1852)

HMS "Agamemnon" was a Royal Navy 91-gun battleship ordered by the Admiralty in 1849 in response to the perceived threat from France by their possession of ships of the "Napoleon" class. She was the first British battleship to be designed and built from the keel up with installed steam power, although, due to the inefficiency of steam engines of the period, it was expected that she would spend much of her time travelling under sail power. She therefore carried a full square rig on three masts, in common with large sailing warships of the period. [ Parkes "British Battleships"]

She carried an armament of muzzle loading smooth-bore cannon, as usual for warships at this time, on two decks. She was completed in 1852. [ Parkes "British Battleships"]

She was not the first British battleship to be completed with steam power; HMS|Sans Pareil|1851|6, a pre-existing square-rigged second-rate, was converted to ancillary steam power (retaining her rig) and completed in 1851. [ Parkes "British Battleships"]

She was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet and served in the Crimean War as flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons.

Between 1857 and 1858, the "Agamemnon" was equipped as a cable ship and laid the eastern half of the first Transatlantic telegraph cable. [ Parkes "British Battleships"]

Footnotes

References

*Lambert, Andrew "Battleships in Transition, the Creation of the Steam Battlefleet 1815-1860", published Conway Maritime Press, 1984. ISBN 0 85177 315 X
*Parkes, Oscar British Battleships, first published Seeley Service & Co, 1957, published United States Naval Institute Press, 1990. ISBN 1-55750-075-4