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Lot Essay
H.M.S. Raleigh, 5200 tons, was built at Chatham, launched on 1st March 1873 and commissioned into the 'Flying Squadron' the following January. Lightly armoured and originally mounting 2-9in. guns and 20-64pdrs., she was designed for speed and could make 15½ knots at full steam. Proving expensive to run however, she was frequently used under sail alone and was the last Royal Navy ship to round Cape Horn solely under canvas. Based at the Cape of Good Hope for her first commission, she returned to African waters as flagship to the Cape and West Coast Squadron (1885-95) prior to a short spell as a sail training ship before being scrapped in 1905.
Laid down as the Majestic but renamed whilst on the stocks, H.M.S. Edinburgh, 9,150 tons, was built at Pembroke Dock and launched in 1882. Severely delayed by problems with her armament, she was not completed until July 1887, just in time to participate in the Jubilee Review of the Fleet the same month. Capable of 16 knots and armed with four enormous 12in. 45-ton breech-loading guns mounted in two turrets, she was the first steel battleship in the navy and spent all of her active service with the Mediterreanean Fleet (1887-94). Latterly serving as a coastguard ship, she ended her days as a target vessel for experimental shells until broken up in 1910.
Laid down as the Majestic but renamed whilst on the stocks, H.M.S. Edinburgh, 9,150 tons, was built at Pembroke Dock and launched in 1882. Severely delayed by problems with her armament, she was not completed until July 1887, just in time to participate in the Jubilee Review of the Fleet the same month. Capable of 16 knots and armed with four enormous 12in. 45-ton breech-loading guns mounted in two turrets, she was the first steel battleship in the navy and spent all of her active service with the Mediterreanean Fleet (1887-94). Latterly serving as a coastguard ship, she ended her days as a target vessel for experimental shells until broken up in 1910.