text: hms valiant ( 1863 ) hms valiant was the second ship of the hector - class armoured frigates ordered by the royal navy in 1861 . her builders went bankrupt shortly after she was laid down , which significantly delayed her completion . after being launched in 1863 , she waited a further five years to receive her guns due to supply issues . upon being commissioned in 1868 the ship was assigned as the first reserve guard ship for southern ireland , where she remained until she was decommissioned in 1885 . valiant was hulked in 1897 as part of the stoker training school hms indus before becoming a storeship for kite balloons during the first world war . the ship was converted to a floating oil tank in 1926 and served in that role until sold for scrap in 1956 . design and description the hector - class ironclads , like their immediate predecessors , the defence class , were designed as smaller and cheaper versions of the warrior - class armoured frigates . they were modified versions of the defence - class ships with additional armour and more powerful engines . valiant was 280 feet 2 inches ( 85 . 4 m ) long between perpendiculars . she had a beam of 56 feet 4 inches ( 17 . 2 m ) and a draft of 26 feet 2 inches ( 8 . 0 m ) . the ship was 300 long tons ( 300 t ) overweight and displaced 7 , 000 long tons ( 7 , 100 t ) . the hull was subdivided by watertight transverse bulkheads into 92 compartments and had a double bottom underneath the engine and boiler rooms . the ships of her class were designed with a very low centre of gravity and had a metacentric height of 4 feet 6 inches ( 1 . 4 m ) . while handy in manoeuvring , they rolled quite badly . propulsion valiant had one 2 - cylinder horizontal return connecting rod steam engine made by maudslay sons & field driving a single 20 - foot - 2 - inch ( 6 . 1 m ) propeller . six boilers provided steam to the engine at a working pressure of 25 psi ( 172 kpa ; 2 kgf / cm2 ) . the engine produced a total of 3 , 560 indicated horsepower ( 2 , 650 kw ) . during sea trials on 18 september 1865 valiant had a maximum speed of 12 . 65 knots ( 23 . 43 km / h ; 14 . 56 mph ) . the ship carried 450 long tons ( 460 t ) of coal , enough to steam 800 nautical miles ( 1 , 500 km ; 920 mi ) at full speed . the ship was barque - rigged and had a sail area of 24 , 500 square feet ( 2 , 276 m2 ) . her funnel was semi - retractable to reduce wind resistance while under sail alone . she was designed to allow the ship 's propeller to be hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag while under sail , but the hoisting gear was never fitted . armament the armament of the hector - class ships was intended to be 32 smoothbore , muzzle - loading 68 - pounder guns , 15 on each side on the main deck and one each fore and aft as chase guns on the upper deck . this was modified during construction to eight rifled 110 - pounder breech - loading guns and twenty - four 68 - pounders . the breech - loading guns were a new design from armstrong and much was hoped for them . firing tests carried out in september 1861 against an armoured target , however , proved that the 110 - pounder was inferior to the 68 - pounder smoothbore gun in armour penetration and repeated incidents of breech explosions during the battles for shimonoseki and the bombardment of kagoshima in 1863 – 64 caused the navy to withdraw the gun from service shortly afterwards . due to her extended construction time , valiant never received the breech loaders , and was armed with sixteen 7 - inch ( 178 mm ) and two 8 - inch ( 203 mm ) rifled muzzle - loading guns . the two 8 - inch guns were mounted on the quarterdeck where they could be fought in all weathers and four 7 - inch guns were also fitted on the upper deck . the remaining twelve 7 - inch guns were carried on the main deck . the shell of the 15 - calibre 8 - inch gun weighed 175 pounds ( 79 . 4 kg ) while the gun itself weighed 9 long tons ( 9 . 1 t ) . it had a muzzle velocity of 1 , 410 ft / s ( 430 m / s ) and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal 9 . 6 inches ( 244 mm ) of wrought iron armour at the muzzle . the 16 - calibre 7 - inch gun weighed 6 . 5 long tons ( 6 . 6 t ) and fired a 112 pounds ( 50 . 8 kg ) shell . it was credited with the nominal ability to penetrate 7 . 7 - inch ( 196 mm ) armour . armour the hector - class ships had a wrought iron waterline armour belt , 4 . 5 inches ( 114 mm ) thick , that covered 216 feet ( 65 . 8 m ) amidships and left the bow and stern unprotected . to protect against raking fire the belt was closed off by 4 . 5 - inch transverse bulkheads at each end at lower deck level . the armour extended to 5 feet 8 inches ( 1 . 7 m ) below the waterline . the main deck was protected by a strake of armour that ran the full length of the ship . amidships , it was 4 . 5 - inch thick for a length of 216 feet and tapered to a thickness of 2 . 5 inches ( 64 mm ) to the ends of the ship . the armour was backed by 18 inches ( 460 mm ) of teak . the lack of armour at the stern meant that the steering gear was very vulnerable . service history hms valiant was laid down 1 february 1861 by westwood , baillie in cubitt town . this company went bankrupt in november 1861 and was ultimately bought by thames ironworks , which delayed the ship 's launching until 14 october 1863 . in august 1865 , after valiant had been towed to portsmouth for fitting out , the ship was inspected by french officers during a port visit by ironclads of the french navy . production of the new muzzle - loaded rifles was slow and ships already in commission had priority so valiant was not commissioned until september 1868 , nearly five years after she was launched . after valiant was commissioned she became the first reserve guard ship in southern ireland , where she remained until 1885 , an experience unique among the british ironclads , although she did have one break to have new boilers installed . from june to august 1878 the ship formed part of the particular service squadron at the time of the russian war scare during the russo - turkish war , and sailed up the dardanelles under the command of admiral hornby . on 20 july 1884 valiant was accidentally rammed by the ironclad hms defence in lough swilly , damaging her hull and tearing off her boats , davits and fittings on one side of the ship . valiant was paid off in 1885 , and saw no further front - line service ; lying for thirteen years in a partially dismantled state at devonport . in 1897 she was assigned to the hms indus stoker training establishment , briefly losing her name , before being renamed as indus iv in 1904 . the ship was converted to a kite balloon storeship in 1915 , during world war i , and her name was changed to hms valiant iii . she was offered for sale in 1922 , but there were no takers so that she was converted into a floating oil tank in 1926 and towed to hamoaze , where she remained until 1956 . valiant was sold in that year to belgian ship breakers and towed to bruges on 8 december 1956 .