Conqueror-class ship of the line

HMS Conqueror
Class overview
Name	Conqueror
Operators	Royal Navy
In service	1855 - 1925
Completed	2
Lost	1
General characteristics
Type	Ship of the line
Tons burthen	3,245 bm
Length	275 ft (83.8 m) (o/a)
Beam	55 ft 5 in (16.9 m)
Draught	21 ft (6.4 m)
Depth of hold	24 ft 5 in (7.4 m)
Installed power	3,103 ihp (2,314 kW; 3,146 PS)
Propulsion	Screw propeller
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Speed	11.8 kn (21.9 km/h; 13.6 mph)
Complement	930
Armament	Lower gundeck: 36 × 8 in (203 mm) shell guns Upper gundeck: 36 × 32 pdr guns Forecastle & Quarterdeck: 28 × 32 pdr guns; 1 × 68 pdr gun

The Conqueror-class ships of the line consisted of a pair of 101-gun second rate screw-propelled ships designed by the Surveyor’s Department for the Royal Navy.

The Conqueror class ships were designed in 1852 as two-decker 101-gun second rates in a period when many under-construction sailing ships of the line were being redesigned to use screw propulsion in addition to sail. Two ships were subsequently completed, HMS Conqueror and HMS Donegal.^[1]

Both ships saw service in the Channel Squadron, and later in the Crimean War. Both were used to transport troops to Mexico in support of the French intervention there in 1861. HMS Conqueror was wrecked on Rum Cay whilst carrying this out, but without losses, and most of her machinery, guns and stores were subsequently salvaged. The advent of armoured ironclads, such as HMS Warrior in the 1860s made the traditional ships of the line largely obsolete. HMS Donegal continued in service as a guard ship, in which role she took the last surrender of the American Civil War.^[2] She was hulked in 1886, and became part of the torpedo training school HMS Vernon.^[3] She served until the establishment moved on shore in 1923, and was broken up in 1925.^[3]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Conqueror class ship of the line.

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif, The Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889, pub Chatham, 2004, ISBN 1-86176-032-9
• Loney, William. "mid-Victorian RN vessels - Donegal". Retrieved 2 December 2008.