1844
Determined to prove William Symonds' designs to be failures, the new Tory Board of Admiralty sent out successive "Experimental Squadrons" in the mid-1840s. In 1844, a brig squadron (including Symonds' Pantaloon and Flying Fish, the old Cruiser, and ships by other designers) left Portsmouth on 22 October, followed three days later by a ship of the line squadron under Rear-admiral William Bowles (with the old three-deckers Caledonia and St Vincent and Symonds' three-decker Queen). The ships of the line were joined at Lisbon on 3 November by Symonds' two-decker Albion, and all four arrived back in Portsmouth on 27 November, 9 days before the brig squadron.
Read more about this topic: Experimental Squadron (Royal Navy)