HMS Captain (1869) - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

In May 1866, Coles informed the Admiralty of his selection of Laird Brothers' Merseyside yard, for the builder of the warship. The Merseyside yard had already built several successful ironclads and readily accepted the challenge of building a vessel to Coles' specifications. To prevent the rigging from being damaged when the guns fired through it, it was attached to a platform mounted above the gun turrets known as the hurricane deck instead of brought down to the main deck. Tripod masts were also used to minimise standing rigging.

The design called for the ship to have a low freeboard, and Coles' figures estimated it at 8 feet (2.4 m). Both the Controller Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Spencer Robinson and the Chief Constructor Edward James Reed raised serious concerns. Robinson noted the low freeboard could cause flooding issues on the gun deck, and Reed criticised the design in 1866 for being both too heavy and having too high a centre of gravity. On the latter, Reed noted that it would cause issues "especially as it is proposed to spread a large surface of canvas upon the Captain". As the design neared completion, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir John Pakington, wrote on 23 July 1866 to Coles approving the building of the ship, but noting that responsibility for failure would lie on Coles' and the builders' lap.

In November 1866, the contract for HMS Captain was approved, and the design was finished. She was laid down 30 January 1867 at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, England, launched 27 March 1869 and completed in March 1870.

Insufficient supervision during the building, partly due to Coles' protracted illness, meant that she was 735 long tons (747 t) heavier than planned. The designed freeboard was just 8 feet (2.4 m), and the additional weight forced her to float 22 inches (0.56 m) deeper than expected, bring the freeboard down to just 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m). The centre of gravity of the vessel also rose by about ten inches during construction. Reed raised havoc over the problems with the freeboard and the centre of gravity, but his objections were overruled during the Captain's trials.

She was commissioned on 30 April 1870 under Captain Hugh Talbot Burgoyne, VC. During trials in the following months, the Captain seemed to be everything that Coles promised and won over many followers. In trials versus the Monarch, she performed well and returned to sea in July and August, travelling to Vigo, Spain and Gibraltar in separate runs.