HMS Victorious ( 1895 ) HMS " Victorious " was one of nine " Majestic " - class pre - dreadnought battleship s of the British Royal Navy . She was armed with a main battery of four guns in two twin turrets , and was capable of a top speed of . She served primarily on home waters , and participated in the Fleet Review for the Diamond Jubilee for Queen Victoria in 1897 . She served briefly in the Mediterranean in 1898 before being transferred to the China Station later that year ; " Victorious " remained in East Asian waters until 1900 , when she returned to the Mediterranean . After returning to the United Kingdom in 1904 , " Victorious " served as the second flagship of the Channel Fleet . She remained in active service with the fleet in various units until 1908 , when she was modernized and then placed in reserve . At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 she was mobilized with three of her sister ships into the 9th Battle Squadron , though by January 1915 she was again withdrawn from front - line service . In September her main guns were removed to arm a pair of monitors . " Victorious " was subsequently used as a repair ship . After the end of the war she was renamed " Indus II " ; plans to use her as a harbor ship were cancelled and , in April 1923 , she was sold for scrap . Design . " Victorious " was laid down at the Chatham Dockyard on 28 May 1894 , launched on 19 October 1895 — after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the Royal Navy about a year later , on 4 November 1896 . The ship was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced up to at full combat load . Her propulsion system consisted of two 3 - cylinder triple expansion engines powered by eight coal - fired cylindrical boilers . By 1907 – 1908 she was re - boilered with oil - fired models . Her engines provided a top speed of at . The " Majestic " s were considered good seaboats with an easy roll and good steamers , although they suffered from high fuel consumption . She had a crew of 672 officers and enlisted men . The ship was armed with four BL 12 - inch Mk VIII guns in twin turrets , one forward and one aft . The turrets were placed on pear - shaped barbette s ; six of her sisters had the same arrangement , but her sisters and and all future British battleship classes had circular barbettes . " Victorious " also carried twelve QF 6 - inch / 40 guns . They were mounted in casemate s in two gun decks amidships . She also carried sixteen QF 12 - pounder guns and twelve QF 2 - pounder guns . She was also equipped with five torpedo tube s , four of which were submerged in the ship ' s hull , with the last in a deck - mounted launcher . " Victorious " and the other ships of her class had 9 inches ( 229 mm ) of Harvey armour , which allowed equal protection with less cost in weight compared to previous types of armour . This allowed " Victorious " and her sisters to have a deeper and lighter belt than previous battleships without any loss in protection . The barbettes for the main battery were protected with of armor , while the conning tower had the same thickness of steel on the sides . The ship ' s armored deck was thick . Operational history . HMS " Victorious " was commissioned on 4 November 1896 for service in the Fleet Reserve at Chatham Dockyard . On 8 June 1897 she went into full commission for service in the Mediterranean Fleet . Before leaving the United Kingdom , she was present at the Fleet Review at Spithead for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria on 26 June 1897 . She moved to the Mediterranean where she relieved the battleship . In February 1898 " Victorious " was detached from the Mediterranean Fleet for service on the China Station . On 16 February she ran hard aground while entering the harbor at Port Said en route to China . Several tugs attempted to free her but were unable ; pump dredgers were needed to shift the sediment around the hull to get her free . She was successfully refloated on 18 February . In 1900 , she returned to the Mediterranean and underwent a refit at Malta . Her Mediterranean service over , " Victorious " was paid off at Chatham on 8 August 1903 and began a refit there that lasted until February 1904 . " Victorious " was recommissioned at Devonport on 2 February 1904 to serve as second flagship of the Channel Fleet . On 14 July 1904 the torpedo boat rammed her at Hamoaze , slightly damaging her . When under a reorganization on 1 January 1905 , the Channel Fleet became the new Atlantic Fleet , and " Victorious " became an Atlantic Fleet unit . Captain Robert Falcon Scott , the Antarctic explorer , served as her Captain , acting as Flag Captain to Rear - Admiral George Egerton aboard her , for a period in 1906 . Her Atlantic Fleet service ended when she paid off at Devonport on 31 December 1906 . On 1 January 1907 " Victorious " was recommissioned to serve at the Nore as part of the Nore Division of the new Home Fleet . She underwent a refit at Chatham in 1908 in which she was converted to burn fuel oil and had main battery fire control and radio installed . She was reduced to a nucleus crew , in commission in reserve , in March 1909 . " Victorious " was transferred to the Devonport Division , Home Fleet , in January 1911 , and to the 3rd Fleet in May 1912 . She damaged her sternwalk in a collision with her sister ship in fog on 14 July 1912 and began a short refit at Chatham in December 1913 . World War I . In July 1914 the Royal Navy began a precautionary mobilization as war began to seem imminent . As part of this , " Victorious " and her sister ships , , and , formed the 9th Battle Squadron on 27 July 1914 , stationed at the Humber to defend the British coast ; " Victorious " remained there as guard ship after the 9th Battle Squadron was dissolved on 7 August 1914 . In December 1914 she transferred to the Tyne to serve as guard ship there . On 4 January 1915 " Victorious " paid off at Elswick . The " Majestic " - class ships were by then the oldest and least effective battleships in service in the Royal Navy ; " Victorious " was laid up on the Tyne February until September 1915 and her 12 - inch ( 305 - mm ) guns were removed for use aboard the new " Lord Clive " - class monitors and . Between September 1915 and February 1916 , Palmers converted her into a repair ship at Jarrow . The converted " Victorious " was commissioned as a repair ship on 22 February 1916 and arrived at Scapa Flow to replace the converted merchant ship " Caribbean " , which had been lost in September 1915 , as repair ship for the Grand Fleet . " Victorious " performed this role there until March 1920 when she was renamed " Indus II " and transferred to Devonport for a refit to prepare her for service with the Indus Establishment . She arrived at Devonport on 28 March 1920 and paid off into a care and maintenance status while she awaited the beginning of her refit . Plans for the refit , however , were cancelled ; work began to convert her into a harbor depot ship but , in April 1922 , that conversion was cancelled before it could be completed and she was placed on the disposal list that month . " Indus II " was sold for scrapping on 19 December 1922 , but the sale was cancelled on 1 March 1923 . She was again sold on 9 April 1923 and was towed from Devonport to Dover to be scrapped . 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