and completed on 15 September, for the cost of £285,750 or £294,481, exclusive of armament. Commanded by Captain Roderick Dew, the ship was initially assigned to the Channel Fleet where she spent three months as temporary flagship before she was transferred to the Mediterranean in 1868. Lord Clyde made one cruise with the Mediterranean Fleet during which she fractured her steel mainyard in a squall. Her engines continued to deteriorate and they were condemned as no longer safe to use by the fleet engineer when she arrived in Naples. The ship was sent to the Malta Dockyard under sail for repair, but they could only make temporary repairs that would enable her to reach home. Upon arrival at Plymouth, Lord Clyde was paid off and a new engine was built for her at Devonport Dockyard. In addition, her four-bladed propeller was replaced by a lighter, two-bladed propeller with less drag and the ship was rearmed. She remained in reserve until 1871 when she recommissioned under the command of Captain John Bythesea, an officer who had won the Victoria Cross during the Crimean War of 1854–1855. Lord Clyde rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet. On 14 March 1872, she ran aground herself whilst attempting to rescue the British steamship Raby Castle that had gone aground off the island of Pantellaria, Italy. The tug Lord Warden and several lighters were sent to her assistance. Attempts to lighten the ship enough to float her off were futile and she remained stuck fast taking damage from wave action that strained her back and wrenched off her sternpost, rudder post and rudder. Lord Warden was able to pull her off four days later and tow her to be repaired at Malta where the dockyard estimated repairs would take six months. Bythesea and his navigator were convicted during their court-martial and neither ever served at sea again. The Admiralty ordered that Lord Clyde be only repaired enough to allow for a passage home; that required six months of work at a cost of £417, and the ship was escorted back to Plymouth by the ironclad . She was again paid off upon arrival and her engines and boilers were removed to allow for her hull to be thoroughly inspected. The dockworkers found that her entire hull was colonized by a fungus, partly because unseasoned wood had been used in the ship's construction, and they spent the next three