History
The new HMS Mersey will be the fifth ship to bear the name in the Royal Navy.
The first HMS Mersey was a 'Conway' Class 26-gun Sixth Rate, launched in 1814.
The second HMS Mersey and her sister ship HMS Orlando were the longest wooden ships ever built for the Royal Navy; at 336 feet overall, they were nearly twice the length of Lord Nelson's flagship HMS Victory. At 5643 tons displacement she was a huge ship for her day, heavily armed, strongly manned and relatively fast at 12 ½ knots.
The third HMS Mersey was the name ship of the 'Mersey' Class of protected cruisers, the first cruisers to be built with no sailing rig, as solely steam powered ships. She was launched at Chatham dockyard in March 1885, had very little active employment and was sold for breaking in 1905.
In 1914 the Royal Navy bought three Amazon river monitors built by Vickers for Brazil. These ships, renamed Mersey, Humber and Severn, were the first of a new type of specialist shore-bombardment ships. She was 261 ft. long, but to allow for her very shallow draft - 4 ft. 9 in. - was very beamy at 49 ft. They were very unmanoevrable and dangerously unseaworthy in open waters in anything more than a Force 5 wind. She was sold to breakers in 1921.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1814 | 1st HMS Mersey - a 'Conway' Class 26-gun Sixth Rate built at Chester. |
| 1818 | Joined the Halifax station. |
| 1824 - 1827 | Joined the South American station |
| 1827 - 1831 | Deployed to the Caribbean. |
| 1852 | Broken up. |
| 1858 | 2nd HMS Mersey - Mersey and her sister ship Orlando were the longest wooden ships ever built for the Royal Navy. At 336 ft overall they were nearly twice the length of Lord Nelson's flagship HMS Victory. The last-built of a programme of six steam screw frigates designed by Sir Baldwin Wake Walker and known simply as 'Walker's Big Frigates'. |
| 1861 - 1862 | Only foreign commission to the North America and West Indies station, unfortunately the combination of extreme length and heavy machinery put the wooden hull under great strain and her seams opened alarmingly. |
| 1875 | Laid up and sold for breaking. |
| 1885 | 3rd HMS Mersey - name ship of the 'Mersey' Class protected cruisers, the first cruisers to be built with no sailing rig, as solely steam-powered ships. She had very little active employment. |
| 1914 | 4th HMS Mersey - RN purchased 3 Amazon river monitors built by Barrow for Brazil. The first of a new type of specialist shore-bombardment ships. Very unmanoeuvrable and dangerously unseaworthy in open waters in anything more than a Force 5 wind. |
| 1914 | In action off the Belgian coast, bombarding German troops and artillery positions. |
| 1915 | Taken under tow to the Mediterranean - aided in the destruction of the German cruiser Konigsberg. |
| 1921 | Sold to breakers. |
Battle Honours
Belgian Coast 1914-1915
'Konigsberg' 1915
The 546 grt coaster Mersey (built 1892) was hired as a Royal Fleet Auxiliary store carrier between September 1914 and June 1917