HMS Aetna

Ten ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Aetna or HMS Etna, after the volcano Etna:

HMS Aetna (1803)

HMS Aetna was one of the Royal Navy bomb vessels involved in the attack on Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore and the bombardment of Fort Washington, Maryland in 1814, during the War of 1812. In these actions she was commanded by Richard Kenah. Prior to this, Aetna participated in the second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 and the Battle of the Basque Roads in 1809. In both these actions, she was commanded by William Godfrey.

Service history

Aetna was the merchant vessel Success, that the Admiralty purchased in 1803. She was commissioned in December 1803 under Commander George Cocks and first served in the Mediterranean. His replacement was Commander Richard Thomas.

In December 1805 she came under the command of Captain John Quillam and in February 1807 or so under Commander William Peake, still in the Mediterranean. She was recommissioned in June 1807 under Commander William Godfrey for the Baltic. There she took part in the siege and bombardment of Copenhagen between 15 August and 20 October 1807, resulting in the capture of Danish Fleet by Admiral Gambier.

Aetna-class ironclad floating battery

The Aetna-class ironclad floating batteries were built during the Crimean War for the attack of Russian coastal fortifications.

Britain and France each laid down five of these coastal attack vessels in 1854. The French used three of their batteries in 1855 against the defences at Kinburn on the Black Sea, where they were effective against Russian shore defences. The British plan to use theirs in the Baltic Sea against Kronstadt in 1856 was influential in causing the Russians to sue for peace. The development of such iron-armoured batteries was a step towards the development of ironclad warships. "These armoured batteries were among the most revolutionary ships ever built and provided British and French designers with the germ of the battleship."

One of the British batteries, the Trusty, was used for trials in 1861 with a prototype rotating turret, based on Captain Cowper Phipps Coles' designs.

Genesis

Emperor Napoleon III initiated the design of armoured steam-powered batteries for the French Navy. The original idea was to protect the sides with boxes of cannonballs, but the British engineer Thomas Lloyd suggested using thick wrought iron plates instead. Trials at Vincennes showed that Lloyd's idea was more effective, so it was adopted.