page_title: HMS Northumberland (1866)
section_title: Construction and service
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Northumberland (1866) / Construction and service
caption_attribution_description: English: The Foul of HMS Hercules and Northumberland in Funchal Roadstead, Madeira, during a gale in 1872, published by The Graphic, 1873
context_page_description: HMS Northumberland was the last of the three Minotaur-class armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s. She had a different armour scheme and heavier armament than her sister ships, and was generally regarded as a half-sister to the other ships of the class. The ship spent her career with the Channel Squadron and occasionally served as a flagship. Northumberland was placed in reserve in 1890 and became a training ship in 1898. She was converted into a coal hulk in 1909 and sold in 1927, although the ship was not scrapped until 1935.
context_section_description: Northumberland, named after the ceremonial county, was ordered on 2 September 1861 from the Millwall Ironworks. She was laid down on 10 October 1861 at its shipyard in Millwall, London. She was altered while on the building slip after Sir Edward Reed succeeded Isaac Watts as Chief Constructor. Unlike her half-sisters, the ship spent five years on the stocks before she was ready to be launched, partially due to frequent changes in design, although Northumberland was much closer to completion. The additional weight caused her stick for an hour on the slipway before she slid halfway down with her stern only supported by air, threatening to buckle the ship. Efforts by hydraulic jacks and tugboats failed to get her into the water on the next spring tide failed, but the use of pontoons on 17 April 1866 proved successful. Her builders went into bankruptcy while the ship was being launched and the liquidators seized Northumberland as a company asset once she was in the water. Eight months passed before the Admiralty could take possession and begin fitting out the ship. She was commissioned in October 1868 and completed on 8 October for a cost a total of £444,256.
  The ship's first posting was to the Channel Squadron, where she remained until 1873. Her first captain, Roderick Dew, had all of her yards painted black so that she could be visually distinguished from her half-sisters, whose yards were white. During this time she helped her half-sister Agincourt tow a floating drydock from England to Madeira where it would be picked up by Warrior and Black Prince and taken to Bermuda. The ships departed the Nore on 23 June 1869, loaded down with 500 long tons (510 t) of coal stowed in bags on their gun decks, and transferred the floating dock 11 days later after an uneventful voyage.
  She was anchored at Funchal, Madeira, on Christmas Day 1872, when a storm parted her anchor chain and the ship drifted onto the ram bow of the ironclad Hercules. Northumberland was seriously damaged below the waterline, with one compartment flooded, though she was able to steam to Malta for repairs.
  While her half-sister Minotaur, normally flagship of the Channel Squadron, was refitting in 1873–75, Agincourt, normally the flagship of the fleet second-in-command, replaced her as flagship and Northumberland became flagship of the second-in-command until Minotaur's return to duty. She served as the flagship for Rear Admirals George Hancock and Lord John Hay. Northumberland received her own refit and rearmament from 1875–79 and rejoined the Channel Squadron upon its completion. The ship was paid off in 1885 for another refit and became the flagship of Vice Admirals Sir William Hewett and John Baird, successive commanders of the Channel Squadron, upon her completion in 1887.
  Northumberland was assigned to the 1st Reserve Squadron at the Isle of Portland in 1890–91 and then at Devonport from 1891–98. She was hulked in 1898 as a stokers' training ship at the Nore and renamed Acheron on 1 January 1904. From 1909–27 the ship served as a coal hulk at Invergordon, renamed C.8 in 1909 and then C.68 in 1926. The ship was sold in 1927, but was then resold and renamed as Stedmound for service at Dakar until she was scrapped in 1935.
caption: The Foul of HMS 'Hercules' and 'Northumberland' in Funchal Roadstead, Madeira
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