700-47 HMS DEVASTATION 1871 - ROYAL NAVY MASTLESS TURRET SHIP

HMS Devastation was a British armored ship, sometimes classified as a steam powered battleship, from the second half of the 19th century. The keel for this unit was laid in 1869, the launch took place in 1871, and entry into service in the Royal Navy - in 1873. The overall length of the ship was 94 meters and a width of 18.97 meters. Full displacement reached about 13,000 tons and maximum speed - about 14 knots. The deck armament, at the time of launching, consisted of, among others: 4 305 mm guns, 4 254 mm guns or 6 57 mm guns. HMS Devastation was the leading unit of the class of ships of the same name, with a total of two units. The ship, as the first battleship in the history of the Royal Navy, had no masts with sails at all, and its entire propulsion relied on steam engines. However, its main armament was concentrated in rotating turrets - for the first time such a solution was used on the HMS Monarch from 1868. Also the general architecture of the superstructures or the main artillery arrangement set a specific standard in the Royal Navy for the next 20 years. HMS Devastation served primarily in their home waters and in the Mediterranean Sea. In the years 1901-1902 he served as the coast guard district at the base in Gibraltar. The unit was decommissioned in 1907.