HMS Agincourt (1865)

HMS "Agincourt" was one of three "Minotaur" class ironclads, the sistership of HMS "Minotaur" and a near sister to HMS "Northumberland". She was a fully rigged ship with a steam engine and an armoured iron hull and was launched in 1865.

"Agincourt's" original name when laid down at Birkenhead was HMS "Captain". Construction proceeded well and, with her name changed to "Agincourt", she was launched and floated out of dry dock in March 1865. She was commissioned in June 1868, her first assigned task being the towing of a floating dock from England to Madeira, in company with her near sister HMS "Northumberland".

After successfully bringing the dock to Madeira, "Agincourt" worked up and joined the battle fleet. Her immense size and power earned her pride of place in the squadrons to which she was attached, and she was almost always taken up as a flagship by the presiding admirals. From 1869 to 1873 she wore the flag of the Admiral second-in-command of the Channel Fleet, with her sister "Minotaur" serving as the Fleet's flagship. It was during this assignment that she suffered a near-catastrophe when, in 1871, she grounded at Pearl Rock, near Gibraltar, and nearly sank. Following repairs she once more flew the second-in-command's flag until 1873, when her sister "Minotaur" was taken in hand for a refit, and for the next two years she served as flagship in the Channel, relinquishing that role in 1875 when "Minotaur" rejoined the fleet.

After another two years' good service, "Agincourt" was paid off in 1877 for re-armament, trading her outdated muzzle loading guns for new breach-loading ones. The following year, with her new armament, she became part of the Particular Service Squadron which passed through the Dardanelles under the command of Admiral Hornby during the war scare with Russia over their advance towards Constantinople. After those tensions faded, "Agincourt" returned to the Channel, where she served as second flag until 1889. That year she was again paid off and was subsequently held in reserve at Portsmouth until 1893, when she was transferred to Portland for use as a training ship. During her active career "Agincourt" was the flagship of no less than fifteen admirals, some of whom were among the most notable figures of Victorian naval history.

"Agincourt", now renamed "Boscawen III", would serve twelve years at Portland. In 1905 she was moved to Harwich and renamed once again, this time to "Ganges II". After four years at Harwich, "Ganges II" made her final journey, to Sheerness, in 1909. After her arrival at Sheerness the old ship was systematically stripped, and converted into a coal hulk known simply as "C.109", much like HMS "Warrior's" career as an oil jetty at Pembroke. Unlike "Warrior", however, "Agincourt" was not destined to be rescued and restored to her former glory; after five ignominious decades as what Oscar Parkes called "a grimy, dilapidated and incredibly shrunken relic" of her former self, she was scrapped in 1960.

References

* Oscar Parkes "British Battleships" ISBN 0-85052-604-3
* Conway Maritime Press "All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905" ISBN 0-85177-133-5