HMS Sultan (1870)
HMS "Sultan" was a broadside ironclad of the Royal Navy of the Victorian era, who carried her main armament in a central box battery. She was named for Sultan Abdülâziz of the Ottoman Empire, who was visiting England when she was laid down. Abdülâziz cultivated good relations with the Second French Empire and the British. In 1867 he was the first Ottoman sultan to visit Western Europe; his trip included a visit to England, where he was made a Knight of the Garter by Queen Victoria and shown a Royal Navy Fleet Review, with Isma'il Pasha of  Egypt. Design. With the exception of some small warships designed only for harbour defence, every ironclad warship so far completed, starting from , had mounted their main armament in broadside batteries. Although the turret-armed ships and were building, it was decided by the Board of Admiralty that, pending results from these two experimental ships, "Sultan" would carry her artillery in a centrally-placed box battery. The design of the ship was closely based on the design of . Unlike the battery of the earlier ship, that of "Sultan" was on two levels; the main deck guns provided broadside fire, with limited  ahead fire from the foremost gun, while the upper deck guns provided additional broadside fire and also could fire astern, by traversing the after gun on a turntable. The hull had one of the roundest amidships cross-section ever adopted at the time of her launch, and this and the low metacentric height of only three feet made her a very steady gun platform. It was soon found, however, that she lacked adequate stability - in naval parlance she was "tender" - and some six hundred tons of extra ballast had to be inserted into her double bottom. Service history. She was  commissioned at Chatham for the Channel Fleet, in which she served until 1876. She was refitted, being reduced to barque rig, and posted to the Mediterranean under the command of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. She was with Admiral Geoffrey Hornby at the Dardanelles in 1878. She was then again refitted, and reduced to re-serve in 1882, when she returned to the Mediterranean under command of Captain W. J. Hunt-Grubbe. At the bombardment of Alexandria (1882) she sustained casualties of two killed and eight wounded from a single hit on the battery. She was with the  Particular Service Squadron during the Russian war scare of June to August, 1885, and was retained in the Mediterranean thereafter. On 6 March 1889 she grounded on an uncharted rock in the Comino Channel between Malta and Gozo, ripping her bottom open. The "Temeraire" unsuccessfully tried to pull her off. The "Sultan" slowly flooded and in a gale on 14 March 1889 she slipped off the rock and sank. She was raised in August by the Italian firm of Baghino & Co for a fee of £50,000. On 27 August the "Sultan" was brought into Malta. Malta dockyard made preliminary  repairs. In December 1889, the "Sultan" made the passage back to Portsmouth under her own steam, at (though accompanied by another ship), arriving at Spithead on 22 December. Modernisation. The "Sultan" was put in dry dock at Portsmouth. Between October 1892 and March 1896, she was modernised at a cost of over £200,000. She was given two tall funnels, a double bridge forward, and new decks. Her old sailing rig was removed, and replaced by two military masts with fighting tops. She was given modern boilers capable of , and modern triple-expansion engines made by J & G Thomson of  Clydebank. At natural draught, on trial in late May 1895, these made giving an average speed . On a four-hour trial, with forced draught, she made an average of , for a power of . Parkes said that there was intense vibration on these trials. As modernised her armament consisted of: As the modernisation affected the distribution of weights on the ship, her beam was increased with a waterline girdling of teak, which raised her metacentric height. "The Engineer" criticised the decision to retain the muzzle-loading guns, saying that "So much money has been spent on this ship since she was  brought home from the Comino Channel that one would like to see a better result." According to Parkes, "nothing could be done to strengthen the old M.L. battery"; he thought that the old ship was not worth the money spent modernising her. Post-modernisation. She then served in the reserve. She commissioned for sea-service twice whilst in reserve: In 1906, she was partially dismantled and became an artificers' training ship under the name of "Fisgard IV"; in 1931 she was further converted into a mechanical repair ship, regaining her original name of "Sultan". During World War II she was  a depot ship for minesweepers at Portsmouth, and was sold in 1947. Costs. The initial cost of the "Sultan" (excluding armament) was £374,777, to which were apportioned dockyard incidental charges of £110,378. Included in the £374,777, was £76,000 for her trunk engines made by John Penn and Sons Ltd. Subsequent outlay upon repairs, alterations sea stores, etc. are given in the following table.