title: Conqueror-class ship of the line
text: # Conqueror-class ship of the line
  
  The Conqueror-class ships of the line were a class of two 101-gun first rate screw propelled ships designed by the Surveyor’s Department for the Royal Navy.
  
  ## Design
  
  The Conqueror class ships were designed in 1852 as two-decker 101-gun first rates in a period when many under-construction sail ships of the line were being redesigned to use screw propulsion in addition to sail. Two ships were subsequently completed, HMS Conqueror and HMS Donegal.
  
  ## Careers
  
  Both ships saw service in the Channel Squadron, and later in the Crimean War. Both were used to transport troops to Mexico in support of the French intervention there in 1861. HMS Conqueror was wrecked on Rum Cay whilst carrying this out, but without losses, and most of her machinery, guns and stores were subsequently salvaged. The advent of armoured ironclads, such as HMS Warrior in the 1860s made the traditional ships of the line largely obsolete. HMS Donegal continued in service as a guard ship, in which role she took the last surrender of the American Civil War. She was hulked in 1886, and became part of the torpedo training school HMS Vernon. She served until the establishment moved on shore in 1923, and was broken up in 1925.
  
  ## Ships
  
  * HMS Conqueror
  
      Builder: Devonport Dockyard
      Ordered: 16 November 1852
      Laid down: 25 July 1853
      Launched: 2 May 1855
      Completed: 9 April 1856
      Fate: Wrecked at Rum Cay on 13 December 1861
  * HMS Donegal
  
      Builder: Devonport Dockyard
      Ordered: 27 December 1854
      Laid down: 27 September 1855
      Launched: 23 September 1858
      Completed: 27 August 1859
      Fate: Renamed HMS Vernon on 14 January 1886. Sold for breaking up on 18 May 1925
  