HMS Vixen (1865)

HMS "Vixen" was an armoured composite gunboat, the only ship of her class, and the third ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She was the first Royal Navy vessel to have twin propellors.

Design

Designed by the Admiralty, "Vixen" was a half-sister to HMS "Viper" and HMS "Waterwitch", and all three were built mostly as experimental vessels. While "Viper" and "Vixen" were twin screw vessels, "Waterwitch" had a water-pump propulsion system. "Viper" differed from "Vixen" mainly in her iron construction.

Hull

"Vixen" was an armoured gunboat of the breastwork type. Her hull was of composite construction, with iron frames and iron bulwarks, but with an outer cladding of convert|140|mm|in|abbr=on teak over the entire hull. An armoured citadel protected her machinery and the ram bow was reinforced by massive ironwork structures. Underwater, her hull was sheethed in copper to prevent marine growth. Vertical trunks were provided at the stern to lift the screws clear of the hull, thereby allowing a better hull-form for purely wind-driven sailing.

Propulsion

She was equiped with two sets of 4-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engines, each set powering one of her two-bladed, 9 ft diameter Maudslay & Griffiths screws. In total she developed an indicated 740 horsepower, sufficient for a top speed of convert|8.9|kn|km/h. Steam was provided by two Maudslay iron fire-tube boilers with six furnaces.

ail Plan

She was equiped with a Barquentine rig, but in 1873 all masts, rigging and upper deck obstructions were removed after the decision for "Vixen" and "Viper" to remain permanently in Bermuda.

Armament

"Vixen" was armed with two 7-inch (6½-ton) muzzle-loading rifled guns and two 20-pounder breach-loading rifled guns. One of "Vixen" or "Viper's" 7-inch guns was displayed on the waterfront at St Georges as recently as 1991.

Construction

"Vixen" was ordered from Charles Lungley of Deptford on 22 March 1864 and laid down the same year. She was launched on 18 November 1865 and commissioned in 1866 under Commander Spencer Phipps Brett for comparative trials. Her total cost was £54,193.

Career

"Vixen", "Viper" and "Waterwitch" conducted comparative trials at Stokes Bay in the Solent 2-9 August 1876. Although turning ability was impressive, none of the ships attained more than convert|9.5|kn|km/h|abbr=on in a era when HMS "Warrior" could achieve convert|14.5|kn|km/h|abbr=on. Furthermore, "Vixen" was nearly lost in the Irish Channel during a winter gale in 1876, making her unsuitable for the open sea under steam or sail. "Vixen" and "Viper" were towed to Bermuda in 1868 where the geography favoured the use of steam-powered rams.

In July 1869 both ships were employed to bring the Floating Dock "Bermuda" from The Narrows to the dockyard, ["Bermuda Royal Gazette", 3 August 1869] and in 1870 "Vixen" rescued a disabled barque. 1873 saw the loss of all rigging, masts and upperdeck equipment, and this must have helped her to survive the 1878 hurricane which caused serious damage to the Floating Dock and other dockyard facilities. In 1895 she was used as an accommodation hulk for dockyard labourers and in 1895 listed as 'to be sold' in the Navy List.

The Daniel’s Head Channel Act (1887) had authorised the sinking of a blockship to close the channel, but the Hydrographer’s Report of 1888 declared the approaches from that direction safe from attack. By December 1895 "Vixen" had been sold to a local scrap merchant. In 1896 Vice-Admiral James Erskine recommended the channel be covered by shore batteries against torpedo boat attack, and in order to make such boats pass close to Daniel's Head, "Vixen" was sunk in the channel, probably the same year.

Fate

Once her engines had been removed, she was placed across the Chubb Cut and massive scuttling charges were detonated. Her keel was broken, and she settled in her final resting place. "Vixen" now lies in convert|10|m|ft|abbr=on of water about convert|0.2|nmi|km|abbr=on offshore from Daniel’s Head, at the west end of Bermuda. She lies in a narrow gap in the coral reef, with the bow just above water. She is well-known locally and is often visited by glass-bottomed boats and divers. The wreck is visible on satellite imagery in position coord|32|18|21.60|N|64|53|8.40|W|type:landmark. [http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/119360482/PDFSTART Richard A Gould, "The archaeology of HMS" Vixen", an early ironclad ram in Bermuda", The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (1991) 20.2: 141-153] ]

Investigation of the wreck

In 1986 Professor Richard Gould began his investigation of the wreck with volunteers from EarthWatch and support from the Bermuda Maritime Museum. By 1988 they had ammassed 13 weeks of diving at the site, and in 1991 Gould published [http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/119360482/PDFSTART "The archaeology of HMS" Vixen", an early ironclad ram in Bermuda"] in "The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology", giving a comprehensive account of the construction, history and fate of the ship.

Commanding Officers

References

*Colledge

External Link

* [http://www.shipwreckexpo.com/bermudashipwrecksvixen.htm The wreck of HMS "Vixen" at ShipWreckExpo, with photographs]