At 3,111 tons, H.M.S. Albion was the largest 2-decker sailing ship built for the Royal Navy and the only example of her type designed by the controversial Sir William Symonds. Begun at Plymouth in 1839 and launched in September 1842, she served first in the Channel Fleet from 1843-48 and thereafter in the Mediterranean from 1849. One of the last sailing ships to see action, she was so badly damaged at the first bombardment of Sebastopol (17 October 1854) during the Crimean War that she had to be towed out of the line of battle and taken to Malta for repairs. Although converted to screw propulsion in 1860-61, she never put to sea as a steam-ship and was broken up as obsolete in 1882.