make – less than a knot better than on her first trials. No attempt was made to bring her armament up to date, although the muzzle-loading rifles which she carried were by then totally obsolete, and the fitting of breech-loading cannon would not have been difficult. At this time she received four 12-pounder and ten 3-pounder quick-firers as a torpedo-boat defence. Armament The four 12-inch muzzle-loading rifles carried as main armament were housed in two pairs in two centre-line turrets on the upper deck, one on either side of the funnel. These guns, each of which weighed , could fire a shell weighing with a muzzle velocity of . Being situated on the upper deck, at a height of seventeen feet above water, they were seven feet higher than any battery in the fleet, with significant advantage thereby accruing in terms of range and command. Unlike earlier turret-equipped coast-defence ships, training was by steam power. A good gun crew could fire an aimed shell every two minutes. To compensate for the inability of the main guns to train either fore or after, two smaller guns of 7 inch calibre were carried in the bow, and one in the stern. Service history HMS Monarch in Number 10 Dock, Portsmouth Dockyard, Hampshire; In 1871 census on 2 April; 316 on board; 209 not on board; Capt Charles Murray-Aynsley; (1821-1901) Captain of Monarch, Channel Squadron (until paying off); October 1870 to 29 November 1871 She was commissioned for the Channel Fleet at Chatham, and served therein until 1872. During the service she crossed the Atlantic in the company of carrying the remains of George Peabody, American merchant, financier and philanthropist, to the United States for burial. On her way home she sailed on one day a distance of , which fell short of the record set by by one nautical mile only. She paid off for refit, rejoining the Channel Fleet in 1874. On 28 November 1875, Monarch collided with the Norwegian barque Halden off the Eddystone Rock. Both vessels were severely damaged; they put in to Plymouth. In 1876 she was posted to the Mediterranean, where she served until 1885, with a short refit at home in 1877. She was present and active at the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882 under command of Captain H Fairfax, firing 125 shells at the Egyptian forts. She was ordered to Malta in the Russian war