HMS Minotaur (1863)

HMS "Minotaur" was the lead ship of the "Minotaur" class of broadside ironclad warships, being followed by her sister-ships HMS "Agincourt" and HMS "Northumberland".

She was originally ordered as HMS "Elephant", after the ship once commanded by Nelson seventy years before, but her name was changed to "Minotaur" during construction. She was launched at Thames Ironworks, London in 1863, after which she was some four years in completing because of changes in design, and experiments with her armament and with her sailing rig. She finally commissioned in Portsmouth in April 1867 as the flagship of the Channel Fleet, which position she retained until 1873. She paid off for re-armament in 1873, and in 1875 resumed her position as flagship, Channel Fleet. In 1887 she was demoted to the Reserve in Portsmouth.

In 1893 HMS "Minotaur" was re-named HMS "Boscawen II" and used as a training ship at Portland; from 1905 to 1922 she fulfilled the role of training ship at Harwich under the name of HMS "Ganges".

She was sold in 1922, sixty-one years after she was laid down. She retained her masts and her black, white and buff livery to the end of her days.

References

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

External links

* [http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/conMediaFile.349/HMS-Minotaur-and-HMS-Valiant-in-the-Royal-Victoria-Dock.html A Royal Maritime Museum engraving of HMS Valiant c. 1870]
* [http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/conMediaFile.591/HMS-Minotaur.html A National Maritime Museum engraving of HMS Minotaur c. 1863]
* [http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/conMediaFile.1005/Lower-deck-plan-of-HMS-Minotaur.html Lower deck plan of HMS Minotaur, c. 1890]