HMS Calcutta (1831)

HMS Calcutta was an 84-gun second-rate ship-of-the-line of the Royal Navy, built in teak to a draught by Sir Robert Seppings and launched on 14 March 1831 in Bombay. She was the only ship ever built to her draught.[1] She carried her complement of smooth-bore, muzzle-loading guns on two gundecks. Her complement was 720 men (38 officers, 69 petty officers, 403 seamen, 60 boys and 150 marines).[3]

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Calcutta.

The hulks of HMS Calcutta (left) and HMS Cambridge (right) off Plymouth, c.1890
History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Calcutta
Ordered4 April 1827
BuilderBombay Dockyard
Laid downMarch 1828
Launched14 March 1831
FateSold, 1908
General characteristics [1]
Class and type84-gun second rate ship of the line
Tons burthen2,291 bm[2]
Length196 ft 1.66 in (59.7830 m) (gundeck)
Beam50 ft 9 in (15.47 m)
Depth of hold21 ft (6.4 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement720 officers and men
Armament
  • 84 guns:
  • Gundeck: 30 × 32 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 32 × 24 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 6 × 24 pdrs, 10 × 32 pdr carronades
  • Forecastle: 2 × 24 pdrs, 4 × 32 pdr carronades

History
The Gallery of H.M.S. 'Calcutta' (Portsmouth), moored at Portsmouth about 1876, painted by Tissot

In 1855 the ship had been in reserve, but was recommissioned due to the Crimean War and sailed for the Baltic. After two months she was sent home again, as being useless for modern naval actions.[4]

Calcutta at the capture of the Bocca Tigris forts in 1856

She saw action in the Second Opium War as the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, under the command of Captain William King-Hall. In 1858 Calcutta visited Nagasaki where she stayed for one week, becoming the first ship-of-the-line to visit Japan.[3]

After returning to home waters, Calcutta was placed back into reserve at Devonport, Devon. In 1865, she was moved to Portsmouth where she served as an Experimental Gunnery Ship, moored ahead of HMS Excellent. In 1889, the HMS Excellent gunnery school was turned into a shore establishment, and Calcutta returned to Devonport where she was attached via a bridge to HMS Cambridge as part of the Devonport Gunnery School.[5]

She was sold for breaking up in 1908.[1] Her figurehead was acquired by Admiral Lord Fisher, then First Sea Lord, as she had been his first seagoing ship.[6] In 2013 the figurehead was restored and transferred to the National Museum of the Royal Navy.[7]

See also

References
  1. Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 191.
  2. Lavery, p. 191.
  3. Diaries of William King-Hall Archived 13 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 November 2008.
  4. Robert Massie (1991). Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the coming of the Great War. Random House. p. 410. ISBN 0-394-52833-6.
  5. Pulvertaft, David. "The Warship Figureheads of Portsmouth: HMS Calcutta 1831–1908" (PDF). Scuttlebutt (47, Autumn 2013): 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  6. Morris, J. Fisher's Face, London (1994), p. 196.
  7. Bob Cruwys (30 October 2013). "Restored figurehead from the HMS Calcutta begins its journey to the National Museum of the Royal Navy". ITV News Westcountry. Retrieved 8 July 2014.

Bibliography
  • Mackay, Ruddock F. Fisher of Kilverstone. London: Oxford University Press, 1973.
  • Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
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