HMS Lord Clyde (1864)

Parkes gives a cost for the "Lord Clyde" of £285,750. [Parkes "British Battleships" p 97.]

Rolling

According to Parkes, the Lord Clyde class ships were by far the worst rollers in the Victorian battle fleet. This characteristic was so dramatic that when the rolling propensities if ship were compared, it was usual to say "as bad a roller as the "Prince Consort", the Lord Clydes being beyond compare. "Lord Clyde" generally performed worse than did "Lord Warden". In sea trials in 1867 with HMS "Bellerophon", "Lord Clyde" was rolling her gun ports under, while "Bellerophon" could have fought her main armament in safety. [Parkes "British Battleships"]

"Lord Clyde" holds the double record of being the largest ship of any type or of any nationality ever to enter Plymouth Sound or Spithead on sail alone. [Parkes "British Battleships"]

ervice History

She was commissioned at Plymouth on 28 May 1866 by Captain Roderick Dew, and served in the Channel Fleet. [ [http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowShip.php?id=1707 | history HMS Lord Clyde] ] In 1868 she was posted to the Mediterranean, but after only one cruise it was evident that her engine was wearing out, and she was sent home to be re-engined. She served in reserve until 1871. [Parkes "British Battleships"]

On 14 September 1871 Captain John Bythesea VC commissioned the "Lord Clyde" at Plymouth and took her out to the Mediterranean Fleet. [ [http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowBiog.php?id=1174 | Online biography John Bythesea] ] In March 1872, "Lord Clyde" "was lying at Syracuse and received a wire from Malta to proceed at once to the help of a British steamer aground on the island of Pantellaria, on which service she got far worse aground herself. Anchors were laid out, coal jettisoned, guns, ammunition and stores hoisted over the side into small casters from the island hired on the spot, and everything possible done to lighten her, but she remained a fixture except to sway in the swell from the open sea, strain her back, and wrench off her sternpost, rudderpost and rudder. It took some time to summon help, as that was a full generation before the days of wireless telegraphy and Pantellaria had no cables; but an officer was dispatched by a passing steamer to Malta, where the "Lord Warden" was lying as flagship and came at once to pull her crippled sister off and return to port. This proved an extremely difficult job even when she was afloat again, as she yawed about so violently without a rudder when in tow, as to pull the sister in charge all over the place. It took three days to travel a distance that could ordinarily be covered in less than one, and all the while she was leaking at a steady rate of convert|2|ft|m|0 per hour.

“On arrival at Malta she had to be docked with great care on account of the badly damaged state of her bottom; and the yard reported that it would take six months to repair. The inevitable court martial meanwhile sentenced the gallant Bythesea and his navigating officer to be severely reprimanded and dismissed their ship, with the result that neither was ever employed again. On receipt of the report from Malta the Admiralty decided that only sufficient external repair for a passage home was to be carried out, but even that required half a year and cost a lot of money… She was escorted home by the "Defence", with a navigating party on board supplied from that vessel; and on arrival at Plymouth her engines, boilers and hold fittings were removed to ascertain what internal repairs were required.”“This disclosed a disastrous state of affairs as a consequence of insufficiently seasoned wood having become prey to the germs of timber fungus from bow to stern… Every remedy known to the expert science of the day, including chemical antidotes, was tried in turn, but to no purpose… It was hoped that perhaps she might serve for a time as a drill hulk attached to the Portsmouth gunnery school... but after nearly three years of ceaseless though unsuccessful curative treatment even that idea had to be abandoned, as she was sinking into decay so fast that she had to be sold before being too far gone to find a purchaser.” [Ballard "The Black Battlefleet" p 84.

Note that Ballard has some obvious errors that have been omitted from the quotation.
*Her machinery was removed in 1876, when it had earlier been stated that the machinery had been removed in 1872.
*She was sold in 1884, which is not consistent with being sold at the end of 3 years effort at curing her fungal infection. ] She was sold in 1875 for £3,730. [Parkes "British Battleships" p 97.]

Data in Ship's Book

At the end of each year, a Form 200 was filed on each ship of the Royal Navy, serving as an objective report detailing the performance and experience of the ship during the year. The form was signed by the ship's Captain, Commander, Staff, and Carpenter, and bound into the Ship's Book. Following is a reproduction of the "Lord Clyde's" Form 200 for the year 1867, with the preprinted text of the form in small type, and the manuscript answers in normal type.

Dated 31st December 1867

Signed R Dew Captain [Illegible] Commander C.G. Johnston Staff Comm Mr J. Edwards Carpenter

Notes

References

Ballard, Admiral G.A. "The Black Battlefleet", published Nautical Publications Co. and Society for Nautical Research, 1980. ISBN 0 245 53030 4

Conway "All the World's Fighting Ships" ISBN 0-85177-133-5

Parkes, Oscar "British Battleships" ISBN 0-85052-604-3

Reed, Edward J "Our Ironclad Ships, their Qualities, Performance and Cost", published John Murray, 1869.

Ship's Book, UK National Archives file ADM 138/290.

[http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowShip.php?id=1707 | history HMS Lord Clyde]

[http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowBiog.php?id=1174 | Online biography John Bythesea]