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HMS ''Birkenhead'', also referred to as HM Troopship ''Birkenhead'' or Steam Frigate ''Birkenhead'',〔 was one of the first iron-hulled ships built for the Royal Navy. She was designed as a steam frigate, but was converted to a troopship before being commissioned.〔 She was wrecked on 26 February 1852, while transporting troops to Algoa Bay at Danger Point near Gansbaai, 140 kilometres from Cape Town, South Africa. There were not enough serviceable lifeboats for all the passengers, and the soldiers famously stood firm, thereby allowing the women and children to board the boats safely. Only 193 of the 643 people on board survived, and the soldiers' chivalry gave rise to the "women and children first" protocol when abandoning ship, while the "Birkenhead drill" of Rudyard Kipling's poem came to describe courage in face of hopeless circumstances. ==Description and history== The ''Birkenhead'' was laid down at John Laird's shipyard at Birkenhead as the frigate HMS ''Vulcan'', but renamed soon after to ''Birkenhead'' after the town where she was built. She had two steam engines from Forrester & Co that drove a pair of paddle wheels, and two masts rigged as a brig.〔〔 According to her designer, John Laird:〔 The ship was divided into eight watertight compartments, while the engine room was divided by two longitudinal bulkheads into four compartments, making 12 watertight compartments in total. She had a round stern and a bow that ended in a large figurehead of Vulcan, holding a hammer in one hand, and some of "the bolts of Jove" that he had just forged in the other.〔 Her armament was originally intended to be two 96-pounder pivot guns, one forward and the other aft, and four 68-pounder broadside guns.〔〔There is no indication that this armament was ever fitted.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Birkenhead (1845)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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