HMS Orlando (1858)

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For other ships of the same name, see HMS Orlando.
Career RN Ensign
Ordered: 31 March 1855
Builder: Pembroke Dockyard
Cost: £187,042
Laid down: November 1856
Launched: 16 June 1858
Completed: 21 April 1859 at Portsmouth Dockyard
Commissioned: 17 December 1861
Fate: Sold for breaking up 15 June 1871
General characteristics
Displacement: 5,493 tons
Tons burthen: 3,740 tons BM
Length: 336 ft 9 in (102.64 m) overall, 300 ft 0.5 in (91.453 m) gundeck, 264 ft 3.25 in (80.5498 m) keel
Beam: 52 ft 1 in (15.88 m)
Draught: 29 ft (8.8 m)
Depth of hold: 19 ft 10 in (6.05 m)
Propulsion: sails; 1000 shp auxiliary steam engine.
Speed: 13.290kts on trial
Endurance: 145 hours at full steam
Complement: around 600
Armament: 1859:
Upper deck: 12 x 8in/68-pounder shell guns
Main Deck: 28 x 10in shell guns

HMS Orlando was a Mersey-class wooden-hulled steam-powered (although fully rigged with sails) screw frigate built for the Royal Navy from 1856 to 1858 but not commissioned until 1861. The Orlando and her sister ship the Mersey were the longest wooden warships built for the Royal Navy. At 336 feet in length, HMS Orlando was nearly twice the length of HMS Victory, the flagship of Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. At 5,643 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, achieving 13½ on trials.

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:


Britain had built two long frigates in 1858 - HMS Mersey and HMS Orlando - the longest, largest and most powerful single-decked wooden fighting ships. Over 335 feet long, they suffered from the strain of their length, proving too weak to face a ship of the line in close quarters.[2]

In 1866 the Orlando was laid up and was sold for breaking in 1871.


  1. ^ Asia's Undersea Archeology, Richard Gould, NOVA, PBS Television article
  2. ^ HMS Warrior, h2g2, BBC Television.

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