HMS Penelope (1867)

Penelope at anchor
Class overview
Preceded by	HMS Bellerophon
Succeeded by	HMS Hercules
Completed	1
Scrapped	1
History
United Kingdom
Name	Penelope
Namesake	Penelope
Ordered	February 1865
Builder	Pembroke Dockyard
Cost	£196,789
Laid down	4 September 1865
Launched	18 June 1867
Completed	27 June 1868
Fate	Sold for scrap, 12 July 1912
General characteristics
Displacement	4,394 long tons (4,465 t)
Length	260 ft (79.2 m) (pp)
Beam	50 ft (15.2 m)
Draught	16 ft 9 in (5.1 m)
Installed power	4 boilers; 4,763 ihp (3,552 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 horizontal-return connecting-rod steam engines
Sail plan	Ship-rigged
Speed	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Range	1,370 nmi (2,540 km; 1,580 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	350
Armament	8 × RML 8 in (203 mm) rifled muzzle-loading guns 3 × RBL 5 in (127 mm) rifled breech-loading guns 2 × RBL 20-pdr 3.75 in (95 mm) saluting guns
Armour	Waterline belt: 6–5 in (152–127 mm) Box battery: 6 in (152 mm) Bulkheads: 4.5 in (114 mm)

HMS Penelope was a central-battery ironclad built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s and was rated as an armoured corvette. She was designed for inshore work with a shallow draught, and this severely compromised her performance under sail. Completed in 1868, the ship spent the next year with the Channel Fleet before she was assigned to the First Reserve Squadron in 1869 and became the coast guard ship for Harwich until 1887. Penelope was mobilised as tensions with Russia rose during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 and participated in the Bombardment of Alexandria during the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882. The ship became a receiving ship in South Africa in 1888 and then a prison hulk in 1897. She was sold for scrap in 1912.