HMS Ocean was the last of the Royal Navy's four s to be completed in the mid-1860s. She was originally laid down as a 91-gun second-rate ship of the line, and was converted during construction to an armoured frigate. The ship spent the bulk of her career on the China Station and served as flagship there for a time. Upon her return to Great Britain in 1872 her hull was found to be partly rotten and she was placed in reserve until she was sold for scrap in 1882. Design and description HMS Ocean was long between perpendiculars and had a beam of . The ship had a draught of forward and aft. She displaced . Ocean had a metacentric height of which meant that she rolled a lot and was an unsteady gun platform. Her hull was sheathed with Muntz metal to reduce biofouling. Her crew consisted of 605 officers and ratings. Propulsion Ocean had a simple horizontal 2-cylinder horizontal return connecting-rod steam engine driving a single propeller shaft using steam was provided by eight rectangular boilers. The engine produced during the ship's sea trials in June 1864 which gave the ship a maximum speed of . Ocean carried a maximum of of coal, enough to steam at . She was barque-rigged with three masts and had a sail area of . Her best speed with the propeller disconnected and under sail alone was . Yards were added to the ship's mizzenmast by 1866 and Ocean was given a full ship rig which she retained for the rest of her career. Armament Ocean was initially armed with twenty-four rifled muzzle-loading guns. Four of these guns were mounted on the upper deck as chase guns, two each fore and aft. The 16-calibre seven-inch gun weighed and fired a shell. It was credited with the ability to penetrate of armour. In 1867 four of these guns were replaced by rifled muzzle-loaders. The shell of the 15-calibre eight-inch gun weighed while the gun itself weighed . It had a muzzle velocity of and was credited with the ability to penetrate of wrought iron armour at the muzzle. Armour The entire side of the Prince Consort-class ships, from the upper-deck level downwards, was protected by wrought iron armour that tapered from amidships to at the ends. The armour extended below the waterline. One small conning tower was fitted on each side of the