Excluding the converted ships, the _Audacious_ was the eleventh British ironclad to be designed in point of date of laying down, but in the matter of design she followed directly on the eighth ship--_Hercules_. Her weights, as compared with the _Bellerophon_, were:-- ==============+=================+================= Name. | Weight of hull. | Weight carried. --------------+-----------------+----------------- _Bellerophon_ | 3652 tons. | 3798 tons. _Audacious_ | 2675 tons. | 3234 tons. ==============+=================+================= In some of these ships the principle of wood-copper sheathing was re-introduced; the iron ships having been found to foul their hulls more quickly than wooden hulled ships. The _Swiftsure_ and _Triumph_ (the two latest) were the ones so treated. Sir E. J. Reed was not responsible for the experiment, which was entirely an Admiralty one. It proved successful enough, the loss of speed being trifling. Details of the _Audacious_ class:--[103] Displacement--6,010. Length--280ft. Beam--54ft. H.P.--4,830. Mean Draught--23ft. 8ins. Guns--Ten 12-ton M.L.R. Coal--500 tons. Belt Armour--8ins. to 6ins. ===========+===========+===========+============+==========+===========+========= |_Audacious_|_Iron Duke_|_Invincible_|_Vanguard_|_Swiftsure_|_Triumph_ -----------+-----------+-----------+------------+----------+-----------+--------- Speed | 13.2 | 13.64 | 14.09 | 13.64 | 13.75 | 13.75 Builder of | | | | | | Ship | Glasgow | Pembroke | Glasgow | | Jarrow | Jarrow Builder of | | | | | | Machin’y | Ravenhill | Ravenhill | Napier | | Maudslay | Maudslay Launched | 1869 | 1870 | 1869 | 1869 | 1870 | 1870 Completed | 1869 | 1871 | 1870 | 1871 | 1872 | 1873 Cost--Hull | | | | | | & Machin’y| £246,482 | £196,479 | £239,441 | | £257,081 | £258,322 ===========+===========+===========+============+==========+===========+========= The sheathing increased the displacement of the two latest ships by about 900 tons in the _Swiftsure_, and some 600 tons in the _Triumph_. These two were single-screw ships only, whereas all the others were twin-screw. In September, 1875, the _Vanguard_ was rammed and sunk by the _Iron Duke_. [Illustration: THE _VANGUARD_, COMPLETED 1874.] The finding of the Court Martial was as follows:--