HMS Colossus was a 80-gun second rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1840s. The ship was fitted with steam propulsion in 1854–1855, and was sold for scrap in 1867.
The Vanguard class was designed by Sir William Symonds, Surveyor of the Navy, with each ship built with a slightly different hull shape to evaluate their speed and handling characteristics. Superb had a length at the gundeck of 190feet and 153feet at the keel. She had a beam of 57feet, a draught of 18feet and a depth of hold of 23feet. The ship's tonnage was 2,583 tons burthen.[1] The Vanguards had a wartime crew of 720 officers and ratings.[2] The Vanguard class ships of the line were armed with twenty 32-pounder (56 cwt)[3] cannon and two 68-pounder carronades on her lower gundeck, twenty-eight 32-pounder (50 cwt) cannon and another pair of 68-pounder carronades on the upper gundeck. On her quarterdeck were fourteen 32-pounder (42 cwt) cannon and on the forecastle deck were eight more 32-pounder (42 cwt) cannon.[2]
When Colossus was ordered to be modified for steam propulsion in 1854, she was fitted with a two-cylinder horizontal trunk steam engine of 400 nominal horsepower that drove a single propeller shaft. On trials the engine produced 1458ihp which gave the ship a speed of 9.3kn.[4]
Colossus was ordered from Pembroke Dockyard on 18 March 1839 and laid down in October 1843. She was launched on 1 June 1848 and completed on 3 July. The ship was not fitted out and Colossus was placed in ordinary. Her construction cost £59,119. Between January 1854 and June 1855, she was fitted with steam propulsion.[1]
Colossus was sold for scrap on March 1867.[5]