An Obsolete Ironclad.

Manawatu Herald, 26 March 1903, Page 2

An Obsolete Ironclad.

The catalogue at a dockyard “ jumble ” sale, held at Portsmouth last month, contained a novelty. This was nothing less than a fullyarmed battleship, the Agamemnon, which has for some years swung at her moorings off Davenport dockyard. The auction of a man-of-war marks a departure in' Admiralty procedure. Hitherto vessels consigned to “ Rotten Row” as it is termed in the Navy, have been sold piecemeal to the dealers as scrap iron. The Agamemnon was built at Chatham twenty years ago, at a cost of half a million sterling. She is a secondclass twin-screw armour plated turret ship, of 7,410 tons displacement. Her turrets are two in number, and, with the citadel, they account for 5,500 tons of armour plating. In the turrets there are four 38-ton rifled muzzle-loading guns, which, together with everything in the ship, were included in the sale. The conditions of sale' stipulated that the vessel must not be removed out of the United Kingdom, and that she must be broken up within two years. This may serve to allay any fears that might be engendered by the fact that the purchasers were a German firm—*Messrs Oppenheim, of 53, Broad Street, London, and of Hamburg—who secured the Agamemnon for £20,000, to which price the bidding advanced from £5,000 by bids of £SOOO. The price was considered to be a good one. Several other obsolete ironclads are included, in the Admiralty's sale list, among them being the Ajax, sister ship to the Agamemnon,'lying at Chatham; Polyphemus, at Portsmouth; Gorgon and Hecate, at Devonport; and Cyclops and - Hydra, at Sheerness. The Agamemnon had the reputation of being'about the worst ship that was ever built for the British Navy. Even when new she was poorly armed with muzzle-loading guns, and was incapable of steering. This made her a very dangerous item in a fleet at sea. She never steamed more than thirteen and three.quarter knots, and has done but little service. It has been suggested that she would be of some se vice as a floating battery for harbour defence, as her armour is thick, if her guns are hopelessly obsolete.