HMS Donegal was a 101-gun, two-deck, first-rate, screw-driven built for the Royal Navy (RN) during the 1850s. Completed in 1859, she served with the Channel and North America and West Indies Squadrons before she was paid off in 1862. Donegal was a guard ship in Liverpool from 1864 to 1869. The ship was renamed Vernon in 1886 when she became part of HMS Vernon, the RN's torpedo and mine school. The ship was sold for scrap in 1925.

Design and description The Conqueror-class ships were lengthened version of the preceding . Donegal measured on the gun deck and on the keel. She had a beam of , a depth of hold of , a light draught of and had a tonnage of 3,245 tons burthen. Her crew numbered 930 officers and ratings.

The ships were equipped with a two-cylinder, trunk steam engine built by John Penn and Sons that was rated at 800 nominal horsepower and drove a single propeller shaft. During Donegals sea trials on 16 July 1859, her boilers provided enough steam for the engine to produce that was good for a speed of . The ships were fitted with three masts and were ship-rigged. To reduce drag and improve performance under sail, they could hoist their propeller into the hull and retract the telescoping funnel.Lambert, pp. 57, 59, 122–123

The Conqueror-class ships were armed with 101 muzzle-loading, smoothbore guns that consisted of thirty-six shell guns on their lower gun deck and thirty-six 32-pounder (56 cwt) guns"Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 56 cwt referring to the weight of the gun. on their upper gun deck. Between the forecastle and quarterdeck, the Conquerors carried twenty-eight 32-pounder (45 cwt) guns. The single 68-pounder gun was positioned on the forecastle as a pivot gun so that it could serve as a bow chaser.Lambert, p. 35

Construction and career Named for the British victory in the 1798 Battle of Donegal,Manning & Walker, p. 168 Donegal was the second ship of her name to serve in the RN.Colledge, Warlow & Bush, p. 121 She was ordered on 27 December 1854 and was laid down at HM Dockyard, Devonport, on 27 September 1855. The ship was launched on 23 September 1858 and commissioned by Captain William Glanville on 23 June 1859. Donegal completed on 27 August and sailed to Liverpool to recruit a crew and then joined the Channel Squadron. On 28 October, William Hall was presented with the Victoria Cross by Rear-Admiral Charles Talbot while Donegal was anchored at Queenstown Harbour (modern Cobh). In November she was transferred to the North America and West Indies Station. Captain Henry Broadhead relieved Glanville on 3 November and was relieved in his turn by Captain Sherard Osborn on 18 May 1861. Donegal returned home the following year and was paid off on 10 June 1862 at Devonport Dockyard.Winfield, p. 41

The ship was recommissioned by Captain James Paynter on 1 September 1864; by this time her armament had been reduced to 81 guns.Winfield, pp. 41–42 Assigned to Liverpool as a guard ship, Paynter took the last surrender of the American Civil War on 6 November 1865 when the Confederate cruiser CSS Shenandoah surrendered after travelling 9,000 miles (14,500 km) from the Pacific Ocean to avoid American ships and possibly being hanged as pirates if captured. Shenandoah had originally been there when news reached her of the end of the Civil War, necessitating such a long voyage.Baldwin & Powers, pp. 318–319 Captain Edwin Turnour relieved Paynter on 1 May 1867 and the ship was relieved of her guard ship duties in May 1869.Winfield, p. 42Warlow, p. 48

On her next assignment she carried Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Kellett and a replacement crew to relieve HMS Ocean, then on the China Station under Vice-Admiral Henry Keppel. Captain William Hewett commissioned the ship on 25 November and was seconded by Commander John Fisher. In 1870 she became a tender to HMS Duke of Wellington, which was then a receiving ship in Portsmouth. Donegal was paid off on 30 September 1870.

On 14 January 1886, Donegal was hulked and became part of the Torpedo School at Portsmouth; she was renamed Vernon. On 23 April 1895 she was moved to Portchester Creek, along with the rest of the hulks making up the school.Warlow, p. 148 She remained in this role until the torpedo school moved onshore in 1923, and Donegal was sold for scrap on 18 May 1925 to Harry Pounds, shipbreakers of Portsmouth. Some of the timbers and panelling were used to rebuild the Prince of Wales public house (reopened as The Old Ship in 2007) in Brighouse in 1926.

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History of HMS Donegal Another report of the Shenandoah's surrender