HMS
Royal Oak was
long between perpendiculars and had a
beam of . The ship had a
draught of forward and aft. She displaced and had a
tonnage of 4,056
tons burthen.
Royal Oak had a low
centre of gravity which meant that she rolled a lot and was an unsteady gun platform. She was, however, very handy and sailed well in all weathers under sail or steam. Her crew consisted of 585 officers and ratings.
Propulsion Royal Oak had a simple horizontal 2-cylinder
horizontal return connecting-rod steam engine, built by
Maudslay, that drove a single propeller shaft using steam that was provided by six rectangular boilers. The engine produced during the ship's
sea trials on 15 June 1863 which gave the ship a maximum speed of under steam. She carried a maximum of of coal, enough to steam at . The ship was initially
barque-rigged with three masts and had a sail area of .
Yards were added to the ship's
mizzenmast in June 1866 and
Royal Oak was given a full
ship rig which she retained for the rest of her career. The
solid shot of the 68-pounder gun weighed approximately while the gun itself weighed . The gun had a
muzzle velocity of and had a range of at an elevation of 12°. The shell of the 110-pounder Armstrong breech-loader weighed . It had a muzzle velocity of and, at an elevation of 11.25°, a maximum range of . All of the guns could fire both solid shot and
explosive shells. The ship's original armament was replaced during her 1867 refit with 20 seven-inch and 8
rifled muzzle-loading guns, four of the seven-inch guns were chase guns. 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 a of
wrought iron armour at the
muzzle. The 16-calibre
seven-inch gun weighed and fired a shell that was able penetrate of armour.
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 at the ends to
amidships. The armour extended below the
waterline and was backed by the sides of the
hull which were thick. ==Construction and service ==