MAGDALA coast defence monitor (1870)

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Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Magdala			Thames Iron Wks, Blackwall, UK	6.10.1868	2.3.1870	11.1870	to United Kingdom 10.1892, returned 3.1903, sold 1904

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	3344
Displacement full, t
Length, m	68.6 pp
Breadth, m	13.7
Draught, m	4.67
No of shafts	2
Machinery	2 Ravenhill 2-cyl HRCR, boilers
Power, h. p.	1436
Max speed, kts	10.7
Fuel, t	coal 120
Endurance, nm(kts)
Armour, mm	iron; belt: 203 - 152 with 279mm wood backing, breastwork: 229 - 203, turrets: 254 - 229, deck: 38 - 25
Armament	2 x 2 - 254/15 MLR Mk I/II
Complement	155

Project history

Low freeboard breastwork monitor intended for service as colonial coast defence ship. Designed by Reed for service at Bombay, she represent the beginnings of practical turret ship design in Britain, having no sail power and being fitted with fore and aft turrets with almost uninterrupted arcs of fire. Turrets were hand operated. Ships had twin screws and balanced rudders and manoeuvred well. Ship given a three-masted sailing rig for passage to her respective colonial port which was removed on arrival. Magdala had a pole mast before the funnel. The flying deck originally overlapped the turrets but in Magdala it was cut back to the length of the superstructure.

Ship protection

The hull was protected by 203mm belt reducing to 152mm at the ends, and the turrets were raised on a central armoured breastwork 229mm at the ends and 203mm amidships. The breastwork served to keep the turrets, hatchways, vents and funnels, comparatively clear of the water, making the ships more practical in a seaway the the low freeboard contemporary ships of the US Navy. Turrets had 254mm faces and 229mm walls.

Modernizations

1892: - 2 x 2 - 254/15; + 2 x 2 - 203/30 BL Mk VI

Naval service