HMS Royal Oak ( 1862 ) HMS " Royal Oak " was a armoured frigate built for the Royal Navy in the 1860s . The lead ship of her class , she is sometimes described as a half - sister to the other three ships because of her different engine and boiler arrangements . Like her sisters , she was converted into an ironclad from a wooden ship of the line that was still under construction . The ship spent most of her career with the Mediterranean Fleet , only briefly serving with the Channel Fleet . " Royal Oak " returned home in 1871 for a refit , but was instead placed in reserve to save money . Fourteen years later , still in reserve , she was sold for scrap in 1885 . Design and description . HMS " Royal Oak " was long between perpendiculars and had a beam of . The ship had a draught of forward and aft . She displaced and had a tonnage of 4 , 056 tons burthen . " Royal Oak " had a low centre of gravity which meant that she rolled a lot and was an unsteady gun platform . She was , however , very handy and sailed well in all weathers under sail or steam . Her crew consisted of 585 officers and enlisted men . Propulsion . " Royal Oak " had a simple horizontal 2 - cylinder horizontal return connecting - rod steam engine , built by Maudslay , that drove a single propeller shaft using steam that was provided by six rectangular boilers . The engine produced during the ship ' s sea trials on 15 June 1863 which gave the ship a maximum speed of under steam . She carried a maximum of of coal , enough to steam at . The ship was initially barque - rigged with three masts and had a sail area of . Yard s were added to the ship ' s mizzenmast in June 1866 and " Royal Oak " was given a full ship rig which she retained for the rest of her career . Her propeller was designed to be disconnected and hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag while under sail , but this was rarely done because there was no bulkhead surrounding the hoisting holes which could have flooded the ship if their covers had been removed in even a moderate sea . To further reduce drag , the funnel was telescopic and could be lowered . Her best speed with the propeller disconnected and under sail alone was , the fastest of any British ironclad , and she was the only ship to exceed her best speed using steam while under sail . Armament . " Royal Oak " was initially armed with 24 smoothbore , muzzle - loading 68 - pounder gun s on the main deck and 11 rifled breech - loading ( RBL ) Armstrong seven - inch , 110 - pounder guns . Eight of these were also on the main deck and the other three served as chase gun s on the upper deck , two at the bow and one aft . The solid shot of the 68 - pounder gun weighed approximately while the gun itself weighed . The gun had a muzzle velocity of and had a range of at an elevation of 12° . The shell of the 110 - pounder Armstrong breech - loader weighed . It had a muzzle velocity of and , at an elevation of 11 . 25° , a maximum range of . All of the guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells . The ship ' s original armament was replaced during her 1867 refit with 20 seven - inch and 8 rifled muzzle - loading guns , four of the seven - inch guns were chase guns . The shell of the 15 - calibre eight - inch gun weighed while the gun itself weighed . It had a muzzle velocity of and was credited with the ability to penetrate a of wrought iron armour at the muzzle . The 16 - calibre seven - inch gun weighed and fired a shell that was able penetrate of armour . Armour . The entire side of the " Prince Consort " - class ships , from the upper - deck level downwards , was protected by wrought iron armour that tapered from at the ends to amidships . The armour extended below the waterline and was backed by the sides of the hull which were thick . Construction and service . " Royal Oak " , named for the English oak tree within which King Charles II hid to escape after his defeat at Battle of Worcester in 1651 , was laid down on 1 May 1860 at Chatham Dockyard as a 90 - gun " Bulwark " - class ship of the line . She was ordered to be converted to an ironclad on 14 May 1861 and was launched on 10 September 1862 . The ship was commissioned in April 1863 to run her trials and completed on 28 May , for the price of £245 , 537 . " Royal Oak " briefly served with the Channel Fleet before she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet . She was paid off for a refit and re - arming in 1867 , and then rejoined the Channel Fleet for six months . She was accidentally rammed by in heavy weather at night on 14 August 1868 ; the impact sheared off the main and mizzen chainplate s as well as all the boats on the starboard side . Three months later the ship returned to the Mediterranean , and was present at the opening of the Suez Canal in November 1869 where she grounded on an uncharted sandbank outside Port Said , Egypt , without sustaining any damage . She paid off for an extensive refit at Portsmouth at the end of 1871 , but was instead laid up as an economy measure . " Royal Oak " remained in fourth - class reserve for 14 years until she was no longer worth repairing and was sold for breaking up on 30 September 1885 . Memorials . A block of housing within the new development at " Rochester Riverside " has been named after this ship .