HMS Queen marks the changing baseline of naval construction. Originally planned as a Caledonia-class ship, she was redesigned by William Symonds and completed in 1839 as the last pure sailing ship of the line ordered by the Royal Navy. She later fought in the bombardment of Sevastopol, where fires forced her to withdraw. Between 1858 and 1859 she was cut down, rearmed, and fitted with an auxiliary screw engine. Her conversion to an 86-gun, 10.5-knot ship places steam adoption in a chronology of alteration and reuse rather than overnight replacement.
Chapter · 35:48-39:48
HMS Queen and the end of the sail-built ship of the line
The last Royal Navy ship of the line completed as a pure sailing vessel became an 86-gun screw ship within two decades.