Editing HMS Wivern (1863)

{{Short description|Ironclad turret ship}}
{{other ships|HMS Wivern}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2017}}
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|Ship image=[[File:HMS Wivern 1865 USNHC NH 52526.jpg|300px|HMS ''Wivern'' in 1865]]
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|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Wivern''
|Ship namesake=Variant spelling of [[wyvern]]
|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=29 August 1863
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|Ship completed=10 October 1865
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|Ship fate=Sold for scrap, 1922
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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 horizontal [[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=
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The first '''HMS ''Wivern''''' was an [[Ironclad warship|ironclad]] [[turret ship]] built at [[Birkenhead]], England. She was one of two [[sister ship]]s secretly ordered from the [[John Laird Sons & Company]] 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 Monassir''. She was to have been named CSS ''Mississippi'' upon delivery to the Confederacy. Her sister was built under the false name ''El Tousson'' and was to have been renamed CSS ''North Carolina''. 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 Monassir'' as HMS ''Wivern'' and ''El Tousson'' as {{HMS|Scorpion|1863|6}}. ''Wivern'' had a long Royal Navy career, until she was scrapped in [[Hong Kong]] in 1922.

==Design and description==
''Mississippi'' 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/> ''Wivern'' reached a maximum speed just over {{convert|11|kn}} during her sea trials on 4 October 1865.<ref name=p14>Putnam, p. 14</ref> 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. ''Wivern'' was the first ship to have tripod masts to reduce interference with the firing arcs of the [[gun turret]]s.<ref name=g0/> The 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==
The British government seized the pair of ironclads in October 1863, before they could be completed. In early 1864, the Admiralty purchased both for the [[Royal Navy]]. Completed in October 1865, ''Wivern'' was assigned to the Channel Fleet until 1868. After a refit that reduced her sailing rig from a barque to a [[schooner]], the ship served briefly as a [[guard ship]] at [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]] and then went into reserve. In 1880 she was dispatched to [[Hong Kong]] to serve as the station [[guard ship]] there.

The naval architect [[Edward James Reed]] wrote: "the turret-ship 'Wivern', belonging to the Royal Navy, has a low free-board (about 4 feet), and is very lightly armoured, while her armament is also very light. Yet on one occasion her behaviour at sea was so bad that she had to be brought head to wind in order to prevent her shipping large, and, of course, dangerous, quantities of water, the extreme angle of roll rising to 27 degrees each way."<ref>Pages 138-9 [[Edward James Reed|Reed, Edward J]] ''Our Ironclad Ships, their Qualities, Performance and Cost'', published John Murray, 1869.</ref>

One of her commanding officers was Captain [[Hugh Talbot Burgoyne]], VC who was later appointed the commanding officer of {{HMS|Captain|1869|6}}. ''Wivern'' remained in Hong Kong until sold for scrap in 1922, having been reduced to harbor duties from 1904.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==References==
{{Commons category|HMS Wivern (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}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wivern (1863), Hms}}
[[Category:Scorpion-class ironclads]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Mersey]]
[[Category:1863 ships]]
[[Category:Victorian-era battleships of the United Kingdom]]