HMS Black Prince (1861)

• HMS Emerald
• Impregnable III

• 4 × 20,3 cm plain tube muzzleloader
• 24 × 17.8 cm muzzleloader
• 4 × 20 -pounder breech-loading

• Belt: 114 mm with 457 mm wood backer
• Scots: 114 mm

HMS Black Prince, launched on 27 February 1861 was the third ship of the same name in the service of the British Royal Navy. She was the second battleship in the world with a steel hull, was able to cross the ocean. Together with her sister ship HMS Warrior it belonged to the Warrior class. For a short time, these two ships were the most powerful battleships in the world, virtually invulnerable by the naval guns of their time. However, rapid progress in the technology of warships could quickly become obsolete the Black Prince and her sister ship. However, it was eventually used more as a reserve and as a training ship in active service.

The Black Prince was built in Glasgow, Scotland. Its completion was delayed until September 1862 due to an accident in the dry dock during the equipment. Serving the Black Prince was assigned to the Channel Fleet until 1866. She then spent a year as the flagship of the commands on the Irish coast. From 1867-1868 she was overhauled and re- armed to serve as a guard ship in the mouth of the Clyde. 1869 attracted the Black Prince and Warrior a large floating dock from the Azores to Bermuda.

The Black Prince was 1874-1875 refitted again and assigned to the Channel Fleet as flagship for the deputy commander. At the end of the same decade, she crossed the Atlantic to visit Canada. From 1878, it belonged to the reserve and was now classified as a battleship. During this time she was regularly reactivated to participate in annual fleet maneuvers.

The Black Prince was built in 1896 to a training ship in the harbor at Queenstown, Ireland. It was 1903 in Emerald ( dt: Emerald ) renamed. In 1910 she was transferred to Plymouth to be used in the local training center under the name Impregnable III. The old ship was sold for scrapping in 1923.