Laid down 6 June 1879 Beam 68 ft (21 m) Construction started 6 June 1879 Length 99 m Displacement 8.546 million kg Builder HMNB Portsmouth | Commissioned 31 October 1886 Draught 25 ft 9 in (7.85 m) Launched 21 March 1882 Weight 9,571 tons Draft 7.85 m | |
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Fate Sold 1908 to Thos W Ward and broken up Class and type Colossus class second-class battleship | ||
The fourth HMS Colossus was a Colossus class second-class British battleship, launched in 1882 and commissioned in 1886. She had a displacement of 9,520 tons, and an armament of 4 × 12-inch breechloaders, 5 × 6-inch guns and had a respectable speed of 15.5 knots.
She was one of the first, if not the first, modern battleship. She had several features which would be standard for all gun warships up to the Second World War including all steel construction, a main battery of breech loading major caliber guns (ie. 10 inches or greater) mounted in turrets and was propelled only by steam engines instead of a combination of steam and sails - as was common in the mid-19th century.
Service history
She served in the Mediterranean Fleet, from her commission in 1886 to 1893 when she then became a Coastguard ship. In 1895 she was part of the 1st Reserve Squadron. Captain Samuel Arthur Johnson was in command from March 1897 to March 1900, when she was coastguard ship at Holyhead.
She was paid off in November 1901 and placed in the reserve, her crew transferred to the HMS Resolution which took over as guardship at Holyhead. Commander Rowland Nugent was appointed in command of the ship on 25 February 1902. In 1904 she was re-commissioned as a tender to Excellent. Colossus was put up for sale in 1906, finally being broken up in 1908. Her sister-ship Edinburgh was broken up in 1910.