HMS Monarch
Laid Down: Chatham Dockyard, 1st June 1866
Launched: 25th May 1868
Completed: 12th June 1869
Dimensions: Length: 330 feet Beam: 57 feet 6 inches Draught: 24 feet 3 inches
Engine Horsepower: 7842 Indicated Horse Power
Displacement: 8322 tons
Ship's Complement: 575
Sold for breaking up in 1946
Sister Ships: none
Designed by the Chief Constructor's Department of the Admiralty, HMS Monarch was the first true sea-going turret ship. She had auxiliary steam machinery that powered her capstan, steering and turrets. She was known as a good seaboat, being notably dry in heavy seas, and a steady gun platform.
Monarch was powered by a single-shaft Humphreys and Tennant 2 cylinder horizontal return connecting rod engine with 9 boilers. This drove a single two-bladed screw. This gave her a best speed of 14.94 knots making her the fastest battleship afloat when first completed. Monarch carried 600 tons of coal giving her a steamin range of around 2,000 miles. She initially had a ship rig with 27,700 square feet of sail but was converted to a barque rig in 1872. She had a steam wheel in the conning tower for steering.
HMS Monarch's main belt of armour covered her from the main deck to 5 feet below the waterline. It was 7 inches thick below the citadel and reduced to 6 inches fore and aft and 4 inches at the ends. The turrets had 7 inches of armour on their sides and 10 inches on their faces. The bases of the turrets were in a box citadel, between the upper and main deck, which had 7 inch sides and 4 - 4.5 inch bulkheads. Her 7 inch guns were positioned behind 5 inches of armour. There was an armoured conning tower on the hurricane deck forward of the funnel.
She carried a pair of turrets, 26 feet in diameter and 7 feet high, one fore and one aft of her funnel. The turrets were turned by steam power with backup hand winches. Each held two 12 inch Muzzle-Loading Rifled (MLR) guns. Since her turret gun barrels were only three feet above the upper deck, she could not have the usual high bulwarks of a warship from this period. Instead she had low iron plates hinged so they could be dropped outwards during action. Each gun had a crew of fifteen men inside the turret and a further five outside. Her turrets could not fire directly fore or aft so she was fitted with three 7 inch MLR guns, two on the forward upper deck and one on the aft main deck. In 1878, two torpedo launchers were added to her armament. In addition to this she had a 'pointed ram of medium projection'.
1n 1897, four 12-pounder and ten 3-pounder quick-firing guns were added as anti-torpedo protection.
Her Service History.
She was first comminsioned in 1869 for service with the Channel squadron. Shortly afterwards, HMS Monarch made the headlines when she was chosen to carry the body of the American philanthropist, George Peabody, back to the United States. Peabody had given over half a million pounds towards the relief of London's poor and so was sent home in a warship to Britain's appreciation of his work. USS Plymouth acted as escort. When she reached Boston, in December, she became a major tourist attraction as the Americans flocked to see an ocean-going turretship.
During her second commission in 1874 was also with the Channel squadron but in 1876 she was sent to the Mediterranean. In 1877, she returned to England to pay off and re-fit but was back inthe Mediterranean the following year. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8, she was part of the force sent to occupy Cyprus in July 1878.
In the unrest in Alexandria in the period before the bombardment of the city, HMS Monarch and HMS Invincible were stationed in the inner harbour. Due to riots and attacks on foreigners in the city, by June 1882, Monarch was carrying over 700 refugees holding British papers and they had to hastily be moved to a charterd P & O steamer at the beginning of July.
In the bombardment on 11th July 1882, Monarch engaged the Marsa and Mex forts west of the city, firing a total of 125 rounds at the enemy positions. At 8.30 am, she hit and blew up the magazine behind Fort Marsa. she was one of the two ships present which were not hit by any enemy fire. On 13th July, she entered the harbour with five other ships and some of her complement joined the 150 seamen and 450 marines landed to keep order in the city.
On 20th August, Captain Fairfax of the Monarch, was instructed to occupy Port said to secure the Suez Canal. Captain Fairfax and Captain Seymour of HMS Iris led at party of 216 seamen, 276 marines and 2 gatling guns, who landed at Port Said at dawn and in near silence. They surrounded the Egyptian garrison which surrendered immediately. Two companies of Monarch's seamen and a company of her marines made up part of the force that was based at the Dutch Hotel in Port Said from 21st August. Some of these and one of the gatling gun crews who fought at Kassassin on 9th September 1882, under the command of Captain Fitzroy of HMS Orion, came from the Monarch. They were also present at the final battle of the campaign at Tel-el-Kebir on 13th September. On the 16th September, all seaman and marines in the Naval brigade were returned to their ships.
In February 1884, HMS Monarch landed men to forestall anti-British disturbances in Port Said. In 1885, she provide some of the men for Lord Charles Beresford's Naval Brigade on the Nile in the Sudan campaign. During the Russian War scare after the 'Penjdeh' incident in 1885, Monarch was summoned from her station at Alexandria to Malta. When she was two days over due on atrip of just five days, the Admiralty at first thought that she might have been lost to two Russian cruisers in the area. The truth was Monarch had broken down and was eventually towed in harbour by a merchant ship.
She was recommissioned for the Channel squadron after a refit and spent five years there. Monarch was modernised between 1890 and 1897. Her engine was replaced, her masts altered and quick-firing guns were added to her armament. In 1897, she was reduced to the guardship at Simonstown. In November 1899, seamen from HMS Monarch were landed to join a Naval Brigade, under the command of Captain Prothero, to fight in the Second Boer War. They manned guns and suffered heavy casualties at the battle of Graspan on 25th November that year. The Naval Brigade, under several commanders, provided much artillery and logistical support for the army during whole war.
In 1904, Monarch was further reduced to a depot ship (re-named Simoom). She was sold for breaking up in 1905.
Sources.
Ballard, Admiral G.A. British Battleships of 1870 - The Monarch. The Mariner's Mirror, The Journal of the Society for Nautical Research.Volume 17, Number 2, April 1931.
Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. Conway's All the Worlds Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979.
Clowes, William Laird. The Royal Navy. A History from the Earliest Times to 1900. Volume VII (of VII) 1857 to 1900. First published in 1903. This edition by Chatham Publishing, London, 1997.
Dixon, Conrad. Ships of the Victorian Navy. Ashford Press Publishing, Southampton, 1987.
(version II text copyright - Nick Marshall - 17/5/2003 )