HMS Northumberland was a long-hulled broadside ironclad warship of the Victorian era, and was the third and final ship of the Minotaur class

Minotaur class battleship

The Minotaur class armoured frigates were essentially enlarged versions of HMS Achilles with heavier armament and armour, and more powerful engines....

 to be commissioned.

Construction

Although she had been laid down at the Millwall Ironworks as a sister to the other Minotaurs, she was altered while on the building slip after Sir Edward Reed

Edward James Reed

Sir Edward James Reed , KCB, FRS, was a British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870...

 succeeded Isaac Watts as Chief Constructor

Director of Naval Construction

The Director of Naval Construction was a senior British civil servant post in the Admiralty, that part of the British Civil Service that oversaw the Royal Navy. The post existed from 1860 to 1966....

. It had originally been planned to arm her with smoothbore muzzle-loading cannon; the plans were revised to permit her to carry 7-inch breech loading rifles manufactured by Sir William Armstrong

William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong

William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong CB, FRS was an effective Tyneside industrialist who founded the Armstrong Whitworth manufacturing empire.-Early life:...

; and by the time of her commissioning the Navy had reverted to the use of muzzle-loading rifles

Muzzle-loading rifles

A muzzle-loading rifle is a gun in which the projectile and propelling charge is loaded through the muzzle , in contrast to a breech loading rifle, and "rifling" grooves cut on the inside of the barrel cause the projectile to spin rapidly in flight, giving it greater stability and hence range and...

. It was decided to equip her with 9-inch and 8-inch muzzle loaders, as against 9-inch and 7-inch in her sisters. To compensate for the extra weight of these guns, the battery was reduced in length and the armour protection thereof was shortened. This resulted in an armoured conning tower, and a shorter battery with an armoured bulkhead at each end.

She was initially designed with three masts, but she was completed with five in conformity with her sisters. HMS Minotaur

HMS Minotaur (1863)

HMS Minotaur was the lead ship of the armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s. They were the longest single-screw warships ever built. Minotaur took nearly four years between her launching and commissioning because she was used for evaluations of her armament and different...

 and HMS Agincourt

HMS Agincourt (1865)

HMS Agincourt was one of three Minotaur class ironclads, the sistership of HMS Minotaur and a near sister to HMS Northumberland...

. Her first captain, Roderick Dew, had all of her yards painted black so that she could be visually distinguished from the other five-masted ships, whose yards were white.

Northumberland was on the building slip for five years, and when the time came to launch her construction was far advanced, and her weight was greater than the launch-weights of contemporary ships. She was stuck for an hour while the tide ebbed, then slid part-way down and came to a halt with her stern out of the water. She was persuaded into the water at the next spring tide by a combination of pontoons, jacks and tugs.

While she was hung up her builders, Mare and Company, went into liquidation, causing further delay in her completion.

Service

Her first posting was to the Channel Fleet

Channel Fleet

The Channel Fleet was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1690 to 1909.-History:The Channel Fleet dates back at least to 1690 when its role was to defend England against the French threat under the leadership of Edward Russell, 1st Earl of...

, where she remained until 1873. During this time she helped HMS Agincourt

HMS Agincourt (1865)

HMS Agincourt was one of three Minotaur class ironclads, the sistership of HMS Minotaur and a near sister to HMS Northumberland...

 to tow the Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

 drydock to Madeira

Madeira

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...

 (from whence HMS Warrior

HMS Warrior (1860)

HMS Warrior was the first iron-hulled, armour-plated warship, built for the Royal Navy in response to the first ironclad warship, the French Gloire, launched a year earlier....

 and HMS Black Prince

HMS Black Prince (1861)

HMS Black Prince was the third ship of that name to serve with the Royal Navy. She was the world's second ocean-going, iron-hulled, armoured warship, following her sister ship, . For a brief period the two s were the most powerful warships in the world, being virtually impregnable to the naval guns...

 towed it to Bermuda). She was anchored at Funchal

Funchal

Funchal is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira. The city has a population of 112,015 and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries.-Etymology:...

, Madeira, on Christmas Day 1872, when a storm parted her anchor chain, allowing her to drift across the ram bow of the battleship HMS Hercules

HMS Hercules (1868)

HMS Hercules was a central-battery ironclad of the Royal Navy in the Victorian era, and was the first warship to mount a main armament of calibre guns....

. Nothumberland suffered serious underwater damage, though her compartmented iron hull limited the flooding, leaving her able to steam to Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 for repairs.

After the repairs at Malta she became Rear Flagship, Channel, until 1875, and was then paid off for refit and re-armament. At this time she became a three-master and was given a new set of guns. She returned to the Channel Squadron in 1879 and served there right through until 1885

Northumberland was refitted from 1885 to 1887, and then returned yet again to the Channel until 1890, even touring as flagship toward the end of that period. From the early 1890s onward she was obsolete and confined to harbour, at first in reserve

Reserve fleet

A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....

 at the Isle of Portland

Isle of Portland

The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A tombolo over which runs the A354 road connects it to Chesil Beach and the mainland. Portland and...

 (until 1891) and Devonport

HMNB Devonport

Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...

 (1891-8) and then as a stoker

Stoker

A stoker is "one who stokes".Stoker may also refer to:* A fireplace poker* Mechanical stoker - a coal-feeding device on a steam locomotive...

s' training ship at the Nore (renamed Acheron). From 1909-1927 served as a coal hulk, renamed C8 (1909-26) and then C68 (1926-27).

Fate

The Navy sold her in 1927. She then served at Dakar

Dakar

Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

as the hulk Stedmound until she was scrapped in 1935.

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