HMS Agincourt ( 1865 ) HMS " Agincourt " was a armoured frigate built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s . She spent most of her career as the flagship of the Channel Fleet ' s second - in - command . During the Russo - Turkish War of 1877 – 78 , she was one of the ironclad s sent to Constantinople to forestall a Russian occupation of the Ottoman capital . " Agincourt " participated in Queen Victoria ' s Golden Jubilee Fleet Review in 1887 . The ship was placed in reserve two years later and served as a training ship from 1893 to 1909 . That year she was converted into a coal hulk and renamed as " C . 109 " . " Agincourt " served at Sheerness until sold for scrap in 1960 . Design and description . The three " Minotaur " - class armoured frigates were essentially enlarged versions of the ironclad with heavier armament , armour , and more powerful engines . They retained the broadside ironclad layout of their predecessor , but their sides were fully armoured to protect the 50 guns they were designed to carry . Their plough - shaped ram was also more prominent than that of " Achilles " . The ships were long between perpendiculars and long overall . They had a beam of and a draft of . The " Minotaur " - class ships displaced . Their hull was subdivided by 15 watertight transverse bulkheads and had a double bottom underneath the engine and boiler rooms . " Agincourt " was considered " an excellent sea - boat and a steady gun platform , but unhandy under steam and practically unmanageable under sail " as built . The ship ' s steadiness was partially a result of her metacentric height of . Propulsion . " Agincourt " had one 2 - cylinder Horizontal return connecting rod - steam engine , made by Maudslay , driving a single propeller using steam provided by 10 rectangular fire - tube boiler s . It produced a total of during the ship ' s sea trials on 12 December 1865 and " Agincourt " had a maximum speed of . The ship carried of coal , enough to steam at . " Agincourt " had five masts and a sail area of . " Agincourt " only made under sail mainly because the ship ' s propeller could only be disconnected and not hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag . Both funnels were semi - retractable to reduce wind resistance while under sail . Admiral George A . Ballard described " Agincourt " and her sisters as " the dullest performers under canvas of the whole masted fleet of their day , and no ships ever carried so much dress to so little purpose . " In 1893 – 4 , after her withdrawal from active service , " Agincourt " had two masts removed and was re - rigged as a barque . Armament . The armament of the " Minotaur " - class ships was intended to be 40 rifled 110 - pounder breech - loading guns on the main deck and 10 more on the upper deck on pivot mounts . The gun was a new design from Armstrong , but proved a failure a few years after its introduction . The gun was withdrawn before any were received by any of the " Minotaur " - class ships . They were armed , instead , with a mix of and rifled muzzle - loading guns . All 4 nine - inch and 20 seven - inch guns were mounted on the main deck while 4 seven - inch guns were fitted on the upper deck as chase gun s . The ship also received eight brass howitzers for use as . The gun ports were wide which allowed each gun to fire 30° fore and aft of the beam . The shell of the nine - 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 seven - inch gun weighed and fired a shell . It was credited with the ability to penetrate armour . " Agincourt " was rearmed in 1875 with a uniform armament of 17 nine - inch guns , 14 on the main deck , 2 forward chase guns and 1 rear chase gun . The gun ports had be enlarged to accommodate the larger guns by hand , at a cost of £250 each . About 1883 two breech - loading guns replaced 2 nine - inch muzzle - loading guns . Four quick - firing ( QF ) 4 . 7 - inch ( 120 - mm ) guns , eight QF 3 - pounder Hotchkiss guns , eight machine gun s and two torpedo tube s were installed in 1891 – 2 . Armour . The entire side of the " Minotaur " - class ships was protected by wrought iron armour that tapered from at the ends to amidships , except for a section of the bow between the upper and main decks . The armour extended below the waterline . A single 5 . 5 - inch transverse bulkhead protected the forward chase guns on the upper deck . The armour was backed by of teak . Construction and service . HMS " Agincourt " , named after the victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 , was originally ordered on 2 September 1861 as HMS " Captain " , but her name was changed during construction . She was laid down on 30 October 1861 by Laird ' s at its shipyard in Birkenhead . The ship was launched on 27 March 1865 , commissioned in June 1868 for sea trials and completed on 19 December . The lengthy delay in completion was due to frequent changes in design details , and experiments with her armament and with her sailing rig . The ship cost a total of £483 , 003 . " Agincourt " s first assignment , together with her half - sister , was to tow a floating drydock from England to Madeira where it would be picked up by and and taken to Bermuda . The ships departed the Nore on 23 June 1869 , loaded down with of coal stowed in bags on their gun decks , and transferred the floating dock 11 days later after an uneventful voyage . " Agincourt " was assigned to the Channel Fleet upon her return and she became the flagship of the second - in - command of the fleet until she began a refit in 1873 . 1871 grounding on Pearl Rock . It was during this assignment that she suffered a near - catastrophe when she ran aground on Pearl Rock , near Gibraltar in 1871 and nearly sank . " Agincourt " was leading the inshore column of ships , contrary to normal practice where the senior flagship lead the inshore column , and gently ran aground sideways when the senior flagship ' s navigator failed to compensate for the set of the tide . " Warrior " , immediately following her , nearly collided with her , but managed to sheer off in time . " Agincourt " was stuck fast and had to be lightened ; her guns were removed and much of her coal was tossed overboard before she was towed off by , commanded by Lord Gilford , four days later . Heavy weather set in the night after " Agincourt " was freed and it would have wrecked her if she had still been aground . Both the fleet commander and his deputy were relieved of their commands as a result of the incident . The ship was repaired in Devonport and Captain J . O . Hopkins assumed command in September with Commander Charles Penrose - Fitzgerald as his executive officer . Hopkins later commented : " We turned the " Agincourt " from the noisiest and the worst disciplined ship in the squadron into the quietest and the smartest ; and a few months after we commissioned we went out to the Mediterranean for the " Lord Clyde " court - martial , and beat the whole Mediterranean fleet in their drills and exercises , which was a great triumph . " In 1873 , Vice Admiral Sir Geoffrey Hornby , commander of the Channel Fleet , transferred his flag to " Agincourt " as her sister " Minotaur " , his former flagship , was taken in hand for a refit that lasted until 1875 . That year " Agincourt " was paid off in turn for a refit and re - armament that lasted until 1877 . During the Russo - Turkish War of 1877 – 78 , the government became concerned that the Russians might advance on the Ottoman capital of Constantinople and ordered Hornby to form a Particular Service Squadron to show the flag at Constantinople and deter any Russian threat . " Agincourt " served as the flagship for his second - in - command and the squadron sailed up the Dardanelles in a blinding snowstorm in February 1878 . After those tensions faded , the ship returned to the Channel , where she served as second flag until 1889 including during Queen Victoria ' s Golden Jubilee Fleet Review in 1887 . Over her active career , she served as flagship to no less than 15 admirals . That year she was again paid off and was subsequently held in reserve at Portsmouth until 1893 , when she was transferred to Portland for use as a training ship . " Agincourt " was renamed " Boscawen III " and served twelve years at Portland . In 1905 she was moved to Harwich and renamed as " Ganges II " . After four years at Harwich , " Ganges II " made her final journey , to Sheerness , in 1909 . After her arrival the old ship was converted into a coal hulk known simply as " C . 109 " . After five ignominious decades as what naval historian Oscar Parkes called " a grimy , dilapidated and incredibly shrunken relic " of her former self , she was scrapped beginning on 21 October 1960 .