Ajax-class ironclad
The Ajax class, also known as the Agamemnon class was a class of ironclad battleships that served in the Royal Navy during the Victorian era. The class consisted of two ships, and that had a turret-mounted main armament. They were the first ships in the Royal Navy to be fitted with a secondary armament and the last to be armed with muzzle-loading rifles. They were hard to control due to their wide beam, shallow draught and flat bottom, and were heavily criticised in service. Launched in 1879, Agamemnon grounded in the Suez Canal while transiting in 1884 and, in 1889, participated in the Royal Navy blockade of the Sultanate of Zanzibar in the fight against the Indian Ocean slave trade. Ajax remained in the UK to serve as a coastguard ship in Greenock and collided with the battleship off the coast of the Isle of Portland in 1887. They were sold to be broken up in 1903 and 1904 respectively.
Design and development
Designed by Nathaniel Barnaby, the two ships of the Ajax class were built to the same concept as their predecessor, ; they were to have a heavily armoured citadel carrying four heavy guns mounted 'en echelon' in turrets to achieve all-round fire. They were of lighter draught and it was therefore necessary to arm them with guns of calibre, as against in Inflexible, and to accept a maximum speed of nearly two knots less. Also, unlike Inflexible, these ships were dependent upon the integrity of their unarmoured ends to maintain buoyancy; should the ends have been damaged enough to become waterlogged, the ships would have sunk.The ships were lighter than Inflexible with a displacement at full load of. They had a shorter overall length of, between perpendiculars, a smaller beam of and a smaller draught of. They had a metacentric height of between and They were powered by a three-cylinder inverted compound marine steam engine provided by Penn that drove two propeller shafts at 70 rpm. Steam was provided by ten coal-burning tubular boilers. The power plant was rated at which had a design speed of at pressure. The ships carried a maximum of of coal, enough to steam at. They were designed from the start not to carry any form of sailing rig. The ship's complement numbered 345 sailors of all ranks.
This class were the last ships in the Royal Navy to be armed with muzzle-loading rifles. They were armed with a main armament of four [RML 12.5-inch 38-ton gun|] muzzle-loading rifles mounted in two turrets. There had been some debate during the design process on this, with the designer and Vesey Hamilton both arguing for breechloaders. However, the opinion, led by Admiral Arthur Hood, of the Admiralty was upheld and the same muzzle-loaders were carried as had been mounted on previous vessels. These guns were supported by, for the first time in a British ship, a secondary armament. This consisted of two BL Mk II guns mounted singly. One was placed on the forward superstructure and the other right aft. Six 6-pounder guns quick-firing guns were also carried.
The ship's armour was built around a citadel that was long. It was thick at the waterline, above and below. It composed of iron plates of between thickness backed up by teak that was thick. The fore and aft bulkheads were fitted with armour that was thick above the waterline and below the waterline. The deck was protected with thick armour. The class were, alongside Inflexible, the first in the Royal Navy to use compound armour, used to protect the turrets. Each turret was protected by armour, with on its face. The ship was fitted with a narrow conning tower on the forward superstructure that had an slot for viewing and was thick. The total weight of the armour on each ship was, representing 26.1 per cent of the total displacement.
Ships
Designed to be cheaper than their predecessor, at an estimated cost of £420,000 per ship, the shipyards overran and the eventual costs for the ships was £548,393 for Ajax and £530,015 for Agamemnon.Service
As with the preceding, the two ships in the class led very different careers. After being completed, Agamemnon initially acted as a drill ship and was fitted with additional equipment. Commissioned during September 1884, the vessel was sent to China. On the journey, the vessel ran aground in the Suez Canal, blocking passage for other ships and causing disruption over many days. The vessel also shadowed the Russian armoured cruiser on the way. Ajax was commissioned on 30 April 1885 and sailed to Greenock to act as a coastguard ship during the following September. Both ships had their sterns altered in 1886, Agamemnon in Malta and Ajax in Chatham. In 1887, Ajax collided with the battleship off the coast of the Isle of Portland.In February 1889, Agamemnon was deployed to the East Indies Station and served as part of the blockade of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, participating in the Royal Navy's efforts against the Indian Ocean slave trade. This service finished in November and the vessel returned to the Mediterranean Sea. Ajax was placed in reserve at Chatham in April 1891, Agamemnon joining the reserve fleet at Devonport in October the following year. In November 1901, the vessels were made dockyard reserve and ineffective. Agamemnon was sold to be broken up in 1903, Ajax following in March 1904.
Operationally, the vessels were a failure and heavily criticised in service. According to naval historian Oscar Parkes, they were "two of the most unsatisfactory battleships ever built for the Royal Navy." Similarly, naval historian Herbert Wrigley Wilson called them "a decided failure; slow, ill-armoured, ill-armed, unsteerable." They were particularly poor sailers, being hard to keep in a straight line and only able to manoeuvre as part of a squadron when travelling at less than. The combination of a wide beam, shallow draught and flat bottom made them particularly skittish; Agamemnon managed to complete a turn to port in 9 minutes and ten seconds before being brought back under control.