HMS Mersey (1858)

The second HMS "Mersey" was commissioned in 1858, just six years after the first "Mersey" had been broken up. Her and her sister ship "HMS Orlando" were the longest wooden warships built for the Royal Navy. At 336 feet in length, "HMS Mersey" was nearly twice the size of "HMS Victory", the flagship of Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. At 5643 tons displacement, she was certainly a large and impressive looking ship in her day. She was heavily armed, and in comparison to many of her counterparts was quite fast with an approximate speed of 12½ knots. Her only deployments were relatively short duties to the North America and West Indies Stations between 1861-1862.

The length, the unique aspect of the ship, was actually an Achilles' heel of the "Mersey" and "Orlando". The extreme length of the ship put enormous strains on her hull due to the unusual merging of heavy machinery, and a lengthy wooden hull, resulting in her seams opening up. They were pushing the limits of what was possible in wooden ship construction:

In 1875 HMS "Mersey" was finally laid up and sold for breaking.

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