HMS Gorgon was the first ship commissioned of the four breastwork monitors built for the Royal Navy during the 1870s.
The Cyclops-class ships were modified versions of the Cerberus class.[1] The ships had a length between perpendiculars of 225feet, a beam of 45feet, and a draught of 16inchesft3inchesin (ftin) at deep load. They displaced 3480LT. Their crew consisted of 156 officers and men.[2] Gorgon had two 4-cylinder horizontal direct-acting steam engine, each driving a single propeller shaft. The engines produced a total of 1670ihp during the ship's sea trials which gave her a maximum speed of 11kn. They carried 250LT of coal,[3] enough to steam 3000nmi at .[4]
The ships mounted four 10-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns in twin-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. The guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells.[5] They were mounted on carriages that used hydraulic jacks to elevate and depress the guns.[1]
The Cyclops class had a complete waterline belt of wrought iron that was 8inches thick amidships and thinned to 6inches at the ends. The superstructure and conning tower was fully armoured, the reason it was called a breastwork, with 8- 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 9inches-11inchesin (-in) of teak. The decks were 1.5inches thick.[6]
Together with her sister ships, the and the, she was placed on the non-effective list of ships in January 1902.[7] She was sold for scrap the following year.
. George Alexander Ballard . The Black Battlefleet . 1980 . Naval Institute Press . Annapolis, Maryland. 0-87021-924-3.