HMS Cyclops (1871)

HMS Cyclops was the lead ship of the Cyclops-class monitor breastwork monitors built for the Royal Navy during the 1870s. The ships were ordered to satisfy demands for local defence during the war scare of 1870, but the pace of construction slowed down tremendously as the perceived threat of war declined. The ship spent most of her career in reserve; her only sustained period in commission was four months in Portland Harbour, during the Russo-Turkish War in 1878 when the British were trying to force the Russians to end the war without allowing them to seize Constantinople. Cyclops was sold for scrap in 1903.

Design and description
The ostensible reason why these ships were ordered was for local coast defence during the war scare during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, but they were chosen for several other reasons. They were small and cheap, and their shallow draft was thought to limit them to defensive operations, which appealed to economy and defence-minded Members of Parliament. The Admiralty, however, envisioned them attacking shallow-water ports that larger ironclads could not enter and operating in the shallow waters of the Baltic Sea.

The ships used the basic design of the Cerberus-class breastwork monitors to reduce design and construction time. Their hulls were completed very quickly, but the pace of building reduced as the likelihood of their immediate use diminished. They were delivered to the Royal dockyards in 1872 and commissioned for fitting out, but a number of years elapsed before that process was completed as little sense of urgency remained.

The ships had a length between perpendiculars of 225 ft, a beam of 45 ft, and a draught of 16 ft at deep load. They displaced 3480 LT. Their crew consisted of 156 officers and men.

The Cyclops-class ships and other ships of her type were described by Admiral George Alexander Ballard as being like "full-armoured knights riding on donkeys, easy to avoid but bad to close with." While not unfit to face heavy weather their decks were frequently awash in even a moderate sea. Their accommodations were rated the worst in the fleet, referred to by ordinary seamen as "ratholes with tinned air".

Propulsion
Cyclops had two 4-cylinder inverted compound steam engines made by John Elder, each driving a single 12 ft propeller. The ship's boilers had a working pressure of 60 psi. The engines produced a total of 1528 ihp on 30 December 1871 during the ship's sea trials which gave her a maximum speed of 10.79 kn. Cyclops carried 250 LT of coal, enough to steam 3000 nmi at 10 knots.

Armament
The ships mounted a pair of 10-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns in each turret. The shell of the 10 in gun weighed 407 lb while the gun itself weighed 18 LT. The gun had a muzzle velocity of 1365 ft/s and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal 12.9 in of wrought iron armour at 100 yd. The guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells. They were mounted on carriages that used hydraulic jacks to elevate and depress the guns.

Armour
The Cyclops-class ships had a complete waterline belt of wrought iron that was 8 in thick amidships and thinned to 6 in at the ends. The superstructure and conning tower was fully armoured, the reason it was called a breastwork, with 8 - 9 in of wrought iron. The gun turrets had 10 inches on their faces and 9 inches on the sides and rear. All of the vertical armour was backed by 9 - 11 in of teak. The decks were 1.5 in thick.

Construction
HMS Cyclops was laid down on 10 September 1870 by the Thames Ironworks in London. She was launched on 18 July 1871 and commissioned in January 1872. The ship was towed to Devenport that same month for what proved to be a very lengthy fitting out period that was not completed until 4 May 1877. Cyclops cost £156,782 to build.

Refit
Although a recommendation had been made while the ships were still under construction to extend the superstructure out to the sides of the ship to improve their stability and habitability, this was not acted upon until they were refitted during the 1880s. This refit also strengthened the breastwork and upper decks, added another watertight bulkhead as well as a false keel. Four quick-firing 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns were added on the breastwork for torpedo boat defence as well as five machine guns and several searchlights. This increased their crew to approximately 191 men and added 80 LT to their displacement.

Service
HMS Cyclops was the third ship to be completed, although she was the lead ship of the class. She was placed in 1st Class Reserve after her completion. The ship, along with her sisters, was commissioned between April and August 1878 during the Russo-Turkish War for service with Admiral Sir Cooper Key's Particular Service Squadron in Portland Harbour. Cyclops was paid off at Chatham in August 1878 and refitted in 1887–89. All four ships of the class participated in the annual fleet manoeuvers in 1887, 1889–90 and 1892; in between times they were in Fleet Reserve. HMS Cyclops, like all of her sisters, was placed on the non-effective list in 1901 and sold on 7 July 1903 for £8,400.