Editing HMS Scorpion (1863)

{{Short description|Ironclad turret ship}}
{{other ships|HMS Scorpion}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
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|Ship image=HMS Scorpion (1863).jpg
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|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Scorpion''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship owner=
|Ship operator=
|Ship ordered=1862
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=[[John Laird Sons & Company]], [[Birkenhead]]
|Ship original cost=
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|Ship laid down=April 1862
|Ship launched=4 July 1863
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|Ship completed=10 October 1865
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|Ship fate=*Sunk as target 1901
*Refloated 1902; sold for scrap
*Foundered 17 June 1903
|Ship notes= 
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship type=[[Ironclad warship|Ironclad]] [[turret ship]]
|Ship displacement={{convert|2751|LT|t}}
|Ship length={{convert|224|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}} ([[Length between perpendiculars|p/p]])
|Ship beam={{convert|42|ft|4|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught={{convert|17|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} ([[deep load]])
|Ship power=*{{convert|1450|ihp|lk=in|abbr=on}}
*4 [[boiler]]s
|Ship propulsion=2 shaft, 2 [[Marine steam engine#Direct acting|direct-acting steam engines]]
|Ship sail plan=[[Barque]]-rigged
|Ship speed={{convert|10.5|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range={{convert|1210|nmi|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|10|knots|abbr=on}}
|Ship complement=153
|Ship armament=2 × twin {{convert|9|in|0|adj=on}} [[Muzzle-loading rifle#Rifled Muzzle Loaders MLR|muzzle-loading rifles]]
|Ship armour=*[[Belt armor|Belt]]: {{convert|2|-|4.5|in|0|abbr=on}}
*[[Gun turret]]s: {{convert|5.5|-|10|in|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship notes= [[sister ship]]: {{HMS|Wivern|1863|6}}
}}
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'''HMS ''Scorpion''''' was an [[Ironclad warship|ironclad]] [[turret ship]] built by [[John Laird Sons & Company]], at [[Birkenhead]], England. She was one of two [[sister ship]]s secretly ordered from the Laird shipyard in 1862 by the [[Confederate States of America]].

Her true ownership was concealed by the fiction that she was being built as the Egyptian warship ''El Tousson''. She was to have been named CSS ''North Carolina'' upon delivery to the Confederacy. Her sister was built under the false name ''El Monassir'' and was to have been renamed CSS ''Mississippi''. In October 1863, a few months after their launch and before they could be completed, the UK Government seized the two ironclads.

In 1864 the Admiralty bought them and commissioned them into the [[Royal Navy]]: ''El Tousson'' as HMS ''Scorpion'' and ''El Monassir'' as {{HMS|Wivern|1863|6}}. ''Scorpion'' had a long Royal Navy career, until she was lost in the North Atlantic in 1903.

==Design and description==
''North Carolina'' and her sister were intended, together with other warships, to break the Federal [[blockade]] of Confederate coastal cities and to hold some Northern cities for ransom.<ref name=s4>Scharf, p. 784</ref> The ships had a [[length between perpendiculars]] of {{convert|224|ft|6|in|m|1}}, a [[beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|42|ft|4|in|m|1}},<ref name=g0>Gardiner, p. 20</ref> and a [[draft (ship)|draught]] of {{convert|17|ft|m}} at [[deep load]]. They displaced {{convert|2751|LT|MT}}. The hull was divided by 12 watertight [[bulkhead (partition)|bulkhead]]s and the ships had a [[double bottom]] beneath the [[engine room|engine]] and [[Boiler room (ship)|boiler rooms]]. Their crew consisted of 152 officers and [[naval rating|ratings]].<ref name=p8>Parkes, p. 78</ref>

The ''Scorpion''-class ships had two horizontal [[Marine steam engine#Direct acting|direct-acting steam engines]], built by Lairds, each driving a single [[propeller shaft]], using steam provided by four tubular [[boiler (steam generator)|boiler]]s. The engines produced a total of {{convert|1450|ihp|lk=in}} which gave the ships a maximum speed of {{convert|10.5|kn|lk=in}}.<ref name=p8/> The ships carried {{convert|336|LT|t}} of coal, enough to steam {{convert|1210|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|10|knots}}.<ref name=p8/> They were [[barque]]-rigged with three masts. The [[funnel (ship)|funnel]] was made semi-retractable to reduce wind resistance while under sail.<ref name=p9>Parkes, p. 79</ref>

No ordnance had been ordered by the Confederates before the ships were seized in 1863, but in British service they mounted a pair of [[RML 9 inch 12 ton gun|9-inch]] [[rifled muzzle loader|rifled muzzle-loading guns]] in each turret. The guns could fire both [[Round shot|solid shot]] and [[Shell (projectile)|explosive shells]].<ref>Gardiner, p. 6</ref> According to Parkes, going from full depression to full elevation supposedly took one hour in smooth water and with an even keel!<ref name=p9/>

The ''Scorpion''-class ships had a complete waterline [[Belt armor|belt]] of wrought iron that was {{convert|4.5|in|mm|0}} thick amidships and thinned to {{convert|3|in|mm}} at the bow and {{convert|2.5|in|mm}} at the stern. It completely covered the hull from the upper deck to {{convert|3|ft|3|in|m}} below the [[waterline]].<ref name=g0/> The armour protection of the turrets was quite elaborate. The inside of the turret was lined with {{convert|.5|in|1}} of iron boiler plate to which T-shaped beams were bolted. The space between the beams was filled with {{convert|10|in|0}} of [[teak]]. This was covered by an iron [[latticework|lattice]] {{convert|.75|in|1}} thick that was covered in turn by {{convert|8|in|0}} of teak. The {{convert|5.5|in|0|adj=on}} iron plates were bolted to the outside using bolts that ran through to the interior iron "skin". The area around the [[Glossary of nautical terms (A-L)#gunport|gun ports]] was reinforced by 4.5-inch plates to give a total thickness of 10 inches. The turret roof consisted of T-shaped beams covered by {{convert|1|in|adj=on}} iron plates.<ref name=p11>Putnam, p. 11</ref>

==Construction and career==
{{stack|[[File:H.B. Majesty's steamer Majestic watching the rebel rams in the Mersey - FL 1864.jpg|thumb|H.B. Majesty's steamer ''[[HMS Majestic (1853)|Majestic]]'' watching the rebel rams in the Mersey, 1863. ''Tousson'', far left.]]}}
In early 1864, the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] purchased both for the [[Royal Navy]] and named them ''Scorpion'' and {{HMS|Wivern|1863|2}}. Commissioned in July 1865, ''Scorpion'' was assigned to the Channel Fleet until 1869, with time out for a refit that reduced her sailing rig from a [[Barque|bark]] to a [[schooner]]. In late 1869, she moved to [[Bermuda]] for coast and harbour defence service. ''Scorpion'' remained there for over three decades before being removed from the effective list. ''Scorpion'' was sunk as a target in 1901 but raised the next year and sold in February 1903. She was lost at sea while under tow to the U.S., where she was to be scrapped.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/uk/uksh-s/scorpn7.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20011030224511/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/uk/uksh-s/scorpn7.htm |url-status= dead |archive-date= 30 October 2001 |publisher=United States Navy Historical Center (United States Navy) |title= HMS Scorpion |access-date= 2008-08-19}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{Commons category|HMS Scorpion (ship, 1863)}}
* {{cite book|last=Ballard |first=G. A., Admiral|authorlink=George Alexander Ballard |title=The Black Battlefleet |year=1980 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=0-87021-924-3}}
* {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905|editor=Gardiner, Robert|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich|date=1979|isbn=0-8317-0302-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2}}
* {{cite book|title=Warship 1996|editor-last1=McLean|editor-first1= David|editor-last2 =Preston|editor-first2=Antony|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|year=1996 |isbn=0-85177-685-X|name-list-style=amp|editor-link2=Antony Preston|last=Jones|first=Colin |chapter=Entente Cordiale, 1865}}
* {{cite book|last=Parkes|first=Oscar|title=British Battleships|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, MD|year=1990|edition=reprint of the 1957|isbn=1-55750-075-4}}
* {{cite book|title=Warship 1999–2000|editor=Preston, Antony|chapter=The Building of Numbers 294 & 295: The Laird Rams|last=Putnam|first=Arnold A.|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|year=1999|isbn=0-85177-724-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Scharf|first=J. Thomas|author-link=John Thomas Scharf|title=History of the Confederate States Navy: From its Organization to the Surrender of its Last Vessel|year=1977|publisher=Fairfax Press|location=New York|isbn=0-517-23913-2|oclc=4361326}}
* {{cite journal|last=Sullivan|first=David M.|year=1987|title=Phantom Fleet: The Confederacy's Unclaimed European Warships|journal=Warship International|publisher=International Naval Research Organization|location=Toledo, OH|volume=XXIV|issue=1|pages=12–32|issn=0043-0374}}

{{Scorpion class battleship}}
{{1901 shipwrecks}}
{{1903 shipwrecks}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scorpion (1863), Hms}}
[[Category:Scorpion-class ironclads]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Mersey]]
[[Category:1863 ships]]
[[Category:Victorian-era battleships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ships sunk as targets]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1901]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1903]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean]]