HAI 894 Temeraire 1877

New 1/1250 scale model of the British battleship Temeraire by Hai (HAI 894) as in 1877.

HMS Temeraire was an ironclad battleship of the Victorian Royal Navy which was unique in that she carried her main armament partly in the traditional broadside battery, and partly in barbettes on the upper deck. She was the first British ship with barbettes of any kind. The foremost barbette was located ahead of the foremast, and had a field of fire ahead, extending to well abaft the beam on both sides. To achieve the same degree of freedom of fire from the after barbette the mizzen mast was deleted, and the after barbette placed aft of the mainmast. Temeraire and Alexandra were the only British battleships ever to carry guns of 11-inch (279 mm) calibre.

The design of the barbettes was itself unique, being one of the few ships to have been equipped with disappearing guns. On firing, the recoil of the gun caused it to drop below deck level; this allowed re-loading without the exposure of the gun crew to aimed enemy fire. After loading, the gun was rotated by a hydraulic system back into the firing position. While this system was effective, it was slow and expensive and was never repeated.

The suppression of the mizzen mast resulted in Temeraire being the largest ship ever to sail with brig rig, that is, with sail carried on only two masts. She was known during her life as "the Great Brig".

She was commissioned at Chatham in 1877 for service in the Mediterranean, where she spent the next fourteen years with the exception of the winter of 1887-1888, when she was with the Channel Fleet. She was present at the bombardment of Alexandria (1882), firing 136 11-inch (280 mm) shells and 84 10-inch (250 mm). HMS Temeraire was paid off at Devonport in 1891, remaining in reserver until 1902 when she became a depot ship. Sold for breaking May 1921.