text: hms minotaur ( 1863 ) hms minotaur was the lead ship of the minotaur - class armoured frigates built for the royal navy during the 1860s . they were the longest single - screw warships ever built . minotaur took nearly four years between her launching and commissioning because she was used for evaluations of her armament and different sailing rigs . the ship spent the bulk of her active career as flagship of the channel fleet , including during queen victoria 's golden jubilee fleet review in 1887 . she became a training ship in 1893 and was then hulked in 1905 when she became part of the training school at harwich . minotaur was renamed several times before being sold for scrap in 1922 and broken up the following year . design and description the minotaur - class armoured frigates were essentially enlarged versions of the ironclad hms achilles with heavier armament , armour , and more powerful engines . they retained the broadside ironclad layout of their predecessor , but their sides were fully armoured to protect the 50 guns they were designed to carry . each was equipped with a plough - shaped ram that was also more prominent than that of achilles . the minotaur - class ships were 400 feet ( 121 . 9 m ) long between perpendiculars and 411 feet ( 125 . 3 m ) long overall . they had a beam of 58 feet 6 inches ( 17 . 8 m ) and a draft of 26 feet 10 inches ( 8 . 2 m ) . the ships displaced 10 , 627 long tons ( 10 , 798 t ) . the hull was subdivided by 15 watertight transverse bulkheads and had a double bottom underneath the engine and boiler rooms . minotaur was considered " an excellent sea - boat and a steady gun platform , but unhandy under steam and practically unmanageable under sail " as built . steam - powered steering improved her qualities significantly when it was installed in 1875 and she was judged " one of our very best we have in the navy " by vice admiral philip colomb in 1890 . the ship 's steadiness was partially a result of her metacentric height of 3 . 87 feet ( 1 . 2 m ) . propulsion minotaur had a two - cylinder trunk steam engine , made by john penn and sons , that drove a single 24 - foot ( 7 . 3 m ) propeller . ten rectangular fire - tube boilers provided steam to the engine at a working pressure of 25 psi ( 172 kpa ; 2 kgf / cm2 ) . the engine produced a total of 6 , 949 indicated horsepower ( 5 , 182 kw ) during the ship 's sea trials on 10 may 1867 and minotaur had a maximum speed of 14 . 33 knots ( 26 . 54 km / h ; 16 . 49 mph ) . the ships carried 750 long tons ( 760 t ) of coal , enough to steam 1 , 500 nmi ( 2 , 800 km ; 1 , 700 mi ) at 7 . 5 knots ( 13 . 9 km / h ; 8 . 6 mph ) . minotaur was reboilered in 1893 and reached 14 knots ( 26 km / h ; 16 mph ) with 6 , 288 ihp ( 4 , 689 kw ) . the ship had five masts and a sail area of 32 , 377 square feet ( 3 , 008 m2 ) . because her propeller could only be disconnected and not hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag , minotaur only made 9 . 5 knots ( 17 . 6 km / h ; 10 . 9 mph ) under sail . both funnels were semi - retractable to reduce wind resistance while under sail . admiral george a. ballard described minotaur and her sisters as " the dullest performers under canvas of the whole masted fleet of their day , and no ships ever carried so much dress to so little purpose . " in 1893 – 4 , after her withdrawal from active service , minotaur had two masts removed and was re - rigged as a barque . armament the armament of the minotaur - class ships was intended to be 40 rifled 110 - pounder breech - loading guns on the main deck and 10 more on the upper deck on pivot mounts . the gun was a new design from armstrong , but proved a failure a few years after its introduction . the gun was withdrawn before any were received by any of the minotaur - class ships . they were armed , instead , with a mix of seven - inch ( 178 mm ) and nine - inch ( 229 mm ) rifled muzzle - loading guns . all four nine - inch and 20 seven - inch guns were mounted on the main deck while four seven - inch guns were fitted on the upper deck as chase guns . the ship also received eight brass howitzers for use as saluting guns . the gun ports were 30 inches ( 0 . 8 m ) wide which allowed each gun to fire 30 ° fore and aft of the beam . the shell of the 14 - calibre 9 - inch gun weighed 254 pounds ( 115 . 2 kg ) while the gun itself weighed 12 long tons ( 12 t ) . it had a muzzle velocity of 1 , 420 ft / s ( 430 m / s ) and was credited with the ability to penetrate a 11 . 3 inches ( 287 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 - pound ( 50 . 8 kg ) shell . it was credited with the ability to penetrate 7 . 7 - inch ( 196 mm ) armour . minotaur was rearmed in 1875 with a uniform armament of 17 nine - inch guns , 14 on the main deck , two forward chase guns and one rear chase gun . the gun ports had to be enlarged to accommodate the larger guns by hand , at a cost of £ 250 each . about 1883 two 6 inches ( 152 mm ) breech - loading guns replaced two 9 - inch muzzle - loading guns . four quick - firing ( qf ) 4 . 7 - inch ( 120 - mm ) guns , eight qf 3 - pounder hotchkiss guns , eight machine guns and two torpedo tubes were installed in 1891 – 2 . armour the entire side of the minotaur - class ships was protected by wrought iron armour that tapered from 4 . 5 inches ( 114 mm ) at the ends to 5 . 5 inches ( 140 mm ) amidships , except for a section of the bow between the upper and main decks . the armour extended 5 feet 9 inches ( 1 . 8 m ) below the waterline . a single 5 . 5 - inch transverse bulkhead protected the forward chase guns on the upper deck . the armour was backed by 10 inches ( 254 mm ) of teak . construction and service hms minotaur was originally ordered on 2 september 1861 as hms elephant , in honour of the ship once commanded by nelson seventy years before , but her name was changed to minotaur during construction . she was laid down on 12 september 1861 by the thames ironworks in blackwall , london . she was launched on 12 december 1863 , commissioned in april 1867 and completed on 1 june 1867 . the lengthy delay in completion was due to frequent changes in design details , and experiments with her armament and with her sailing rig . the ship cost a total of £ 478 , 855 . minotaur finally commissioned in portsmouth as the flagship of the channel fleet , a position which she retained until 1873 . in 1868 the ship nearly rammed the ironclad hms bellerophon as they were leaving belfast lough . minotaur lost her bowsprit and fore topgallant mast , but bellerophon only suffered some minor flooding . she paid off for a long refit in 1873 and resumed her position in 1875 when she rejoined the channel fleet . minotaur became the first ship in the royal navy to receive a permanent installation of an electric searchlight in 1876 . the ship was the flagship of vice admiral sir william hewett , who had earned the victoria cross in the siege of sevastopol in 1854 , during queen victoria 's golden jubilee fleet review on 23 july 1887 . minotaur was paid off at the end of 1887 in portsmouth and assigned to the reserve until 1893 when she became a training ship at portland . she was renamed hms boscawen ii in march 1904 and transferred in 1905 to harwich as part of the hms ganges training school . the ship was renamed 11 june 1906 as hms ganges and then to ganges ii on 25 april 1908 . she was sold on 30 january 1922 for scrap .