HMS Crocodile (1867)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Crocodile.
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Crocodile
Ordered: 1865
Builder: Money Wigram and Sons[1]
Launched: 7 January 1867
Fate: Sold 11 May 1894
General characteristics
Class and type: Euphrates-class troopship
Type: Troopship
Displacement: 6,211 tons, 4,206 tons BM[1]
Length: 360 ft (109.7 m) (overall)
Beam: 49 ft 1.5 in (15.0 m)
Depth of hold: 22 ft 4 in (6.81 m)
Installed power:
  • As built: 4,044 ihp (3,016 kW)
  • From 1869: unknown[1]
Propulsion:
  • 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion (later compound-expansion) trunk engine
  • Single screw
Sail plan: Barque
Speed: 15 kn (28 km/h)
Armament: Three 4-pounder guns

HMS Crocodile was a Euphrates-class troopship launched into the Thames from the Blackwall Yard of Money Wigram & Sons on 7 January 1867. She was the fourth and last vessel of the Royal Navy to carry the name.

Design

Crocodile was one of five iron-hulled vessels of the Euphrates class. All five were built to a design of 360 ft overall length by about 49 ft breadth, although Malabar was very slightly smaller than the rest of the class. They had a single screw, a speed of 14 knots, one funnel, a barque-rig sail plan, three 4-pounder guns, and a white painted hull. Her bow was a "ram bow" which projected forward below the waterline.

Career

She was built for the transport of troops between the United Kingdom and the Indian sub-continent, and was operated by the Royal Navy. She carried up to 1,200 troops and family on a passage of approximately 70 days. She was commissioned in April 1870 under Captain G H Parkin.

Crocodile was re-engined rather later in life than her sisters, with her single-expansion steam engine replaced with a more efficient compound-expansion type.[Note 1]

Crocodile's last voyage began at Bombay in October 1893. On 3 November, as she was approaching Aden, the high-pressure steam cylinder exploded and the ship came to a halt. The next day she was towed to an anchorage near Aden. [2] Most of the soldiers and their families were brought home on other ships. Crocodile eventually arrived back at Portsmouth on 30 December 1893, having travelled using only the low-pressure steam cylinder, and was not further employed for trooping.[3]

Fate

Crocodile was sold for breaking on 11 May 1894.[1][4]

Commanding officers

From Until Captain[5]
November 1866April 1870Captain George Willes Watson
8 April 187017 May 1873Captain George Henry Parkin
2 June 1875-Captain Philip Ruffle Sharpe
10 June 187816 September 1882Captain Frederic Proby Doughty
May 1890-Captain Orford Churchill

Notes

  1. ↑ Winfield does not show a re-engining of Crocodile. This is a misprint and the Errata should be consulted.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Winfield, Rif & Lyon, David (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.
  2. ↑ Birmingham Daily Post 29 November 1893
  3. ↑ The Times, London, 1 January 1894
  4. ↑ Colledge. Ships of the Royal Navy. p. 83.
  5. ↑ "HMS Crocodile at William Loney RN website". Retrieved 2009-06-23.

External links

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