HMS Marlborough was a first-rate

First-rate

First rate was the designation used by the Royal Navy for its largest ships of the line. While the size and establishment of guns and men changed over the 250 years that the rating system held sway, from the early years of the eighteenth century the first rates comprised those ships mounting 100...

 three-decker 131 gun screw ship built for the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 in 1855. She was begun as a sailing ship of the line

Ship of the line

A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

 (with her sister ships , HMS Prince of Wales

HMS Prince of Wales (1860)

HMS Prince of Wales was one of six 121-gun screw-propelled first-rate three-decker line-of-battle ships of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 25 January 1860...

 and HMS Royal Sovereign

HMS Royal Sovereign (1857)

HMS Royal Sovereign was originally laid down as a 120-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She would have mounted sixteen cannon, 114 guns, and a pivot gun. With the rise of steam and screw propulsion, she was ordered to be converted on the stocks to a 131-gun screw ship, with...

), but was completed to a modified design and converted to steam on the stocks

Slipway

A slipway, boat slip or just a slip, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats. They are also used for launching and retrieving small boats on trailers and flying boats on their undercarriage. The...

.

She served as flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet from 1858-64 (with the flag of Vice-Admiral William Fanshawe Martin, captain William Houston Stewart

William Houston Stewart

Admiral Sir William Houston Stewart GCB was a British naval officer who was Controller of the Royal Navy from 1872 to 1881.-Personal life:...

, from 3 May 1860 to 20 April 1863; and of Vice-Admiral Robert Smart

Robert Smart

Admiral Sir Robert Smart KCB KH was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet.-Naval career:...

, Captain Charles Fellowes

Charles Fellowes

Vice Admiral Charles Fellowes CB was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Channel Fleet.-Naval career:Fellowes joined the Royal Navy in 1836...

, from 1863).