HMS Gorgon (1871)

HMS Gorgon was the first ship commissioned of the four Cyclops-class monitor breastwork monitors built for the Royal Navy during the 1870s.

Design and description
The Cyclops-class ships were modified versions of the Cerberus class. The ships had a length between perpendiculars of 225 ft, a beam of 45 ft, and a draught of 16 ft at deep load. They displaced 3480 LT. Their crew consisted of 156 officers and men. Gorgon had two 4-cylinder horizontal direct-acting steam engine, each driving a single propeller shaft. The engines produced a total of 1670 ihp during the ship's sea trials which gave her a maximum speed of 11 kn. They carried 250 LT of coal, enough to steam 3000 nmi at 10 kn.

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. They were mounted on carriages that used hydraulic jacks to elevate and depress the guns.

The Cyclops class had a complete waterline belt of wrought iron that was 8 in thick amidships and thinned to 6 in at the ends. The superstructure and conning tower was fully armoured, the reason it was called a breastwork, with 8 - 9 in 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 9 - 11 in of teak. The decks were 1.5 in thick.

Construction and career
Together with her sister ships, the HMS Cyclops (1871) and the HMS Hecate (1871), she was placed on the non-effective list of ships in January 1902. She was sold for scrap the following year.