Lord Clyde-Class

The entire side of the ship’s hulls, except for the upper deck, was protected by wrought iron armour that tapered from 114mm at the ends to 140mm amidships. The armour belt extended 1.80 metres below the waterline. The forward chase guns on the upper deck were protected by 114mm armour plates on the sides of the hull and a 114mm transverse bulkhead. The armour was backed by 152mm of oak and 38mm of iron skin that coated the ship’s wooden hulls, with 762mm of oak behind. They were also fitted with an armoured conning tower that had 114mm-thick armour plating.

These two ships had very short service lives, being particularly susceptible to obsolescence in a world increasingly full of iron-hulled warships of ever more powerful designs. Lord Clyde entered service on 2^nd June 1866, and she was initially assigned to the Channel Fleet where she spent three months as a temporary flagship before she was transferred to the Mediterranean. She made one cruise with the Mediterranean Fleet where she fractured her steel mainyard in a squall and with her engines continuing to deteriorate, she was deemed unsafe for service and was sent to Malta for repairs. However, they were unable to rectify all the issues and were only able to repair her enough to be able to return home for a full refit. Upon arriving in Plymouth, she was paid off and new engines were constructed for her at Devonport Dockyard. Her propeller was replaced by a lighter model with only two blades and the ship was rearmed (as discussed earlier). She remained in reserve until 1871 when she was recommissioned and rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet.

On 14^th March 1872, she ran aground while attempting to rescue the British steamship Raby Castle that itself had run aground off the island of Pantellaria, Italy. Several ships were sent to her assistance but attempts to lighten the ship enough to float her off were futile and she remained stuck fast, continuing to be battered by the waves. After the waves had ripped off her sternpost, rudder post and rudder, the ship was finally pulled to safety (by her sister ship Lord Warden no less) and towed to Malta for repairs. The captain, John Blythesea (who had won a Victoria Cross in the Crimean War) and his navigator were convicted during their court-martial and neither ever served at sea again. The Admiralty ordered those repairs to the ship be only enough for a safe passage home, which required six months of work and she was escorted back by the ironclad Defence. Upon inspection in the dockyard in Plymouth, dockworkers found that her entire hull was colonised by a fungus because unseasoned wood had been used in her construction. They spent the next three years attempting to kill the fungus and stop the rot, but all efforts failed, and she was sold for scrapping before she lost all value, in 1875 for £3,730.

Lord Warden was commissioned on 30^th August 1867, serving initially with the Channel Fleet before she was transferred to the Mediterranean. Like her sistership, her career wasn’t short of drama. On 30^th January, the wooden steam frigate HMS Endymion was caught by a squall whilst berthing at Valletta Harbour, Malta. She collided with the Ottoman broadside ironclad Mahmudiye, knocking off her bowsprit before colliding with Lord Warden, damaging some of the latter’s boats and an accommodation ladder. Endymion herself was somehow undamaged. Lord Warden then ran aground on 3^rd May, with repairs costing £2,409, with a lieutenant being reprimanded, losing a whole year’s salary. She later relieved HMS Caledonia as squadron flagship in 1869 and served in this position until 1875. As discussed earlier, she helped rescue her sistership when Lord Clyde ran aground off the Italian island of Pantellaria in March 1872.

In 1875, Lord Warden returned to the United Kingdom for a refit that lasted until the following year. She was then reassigned to the First Reserve, where she served as a gunship in the Firth of Forth. She was one of the many ships assigned to the Particular Service Squadron during the Russian war scare in the Russo-Turkish War in 1878. In 1884 she was equipped with torpedo launchers and torpedo nets as part of experimental trials before she was paid off the following year. She was sold for scrapping in February 1889.