HMS Challenger (1858)

	Painting of Challenger by William Frederick Mitchell
History
United Kingdom
Name	Challenger
Builder	Woolwich Dockyard
Launched	13 February 1858
Decommissioned	Chatham Dockyard, 1878
Fate	Broken for scrap, 1921
General characteristics
Class and type	Pearl-class corvette
Displacement	2,137 long tons (2,171 t)
Tons burthen	1465 bm
Length	225 ft 3 in (68.66 m) oa; 200 ft (61 m) (gundeck);
Beam	40 ft 4 in (12.29 m)
Draught	17 ft 4 in (5.28 m) (forward); 18 ft 10 in (5.74 m) (aft);
Depth of hold	23 ft 11 in (7.29 m)
Installed power	400 nominal horsepower; 1,450 ihp (1,080 kW);
Propulsion	2-cylinder trunk engine; Single screw;
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Speed	10.7 knots (19.8 km/h) (under steam)
Armament	20 × 8-inch (42 cwt) muzzle-loading smoothbore cannons on broadside trucks; 1 × 10-inch/68 pdr (95 cwt) muzzle-loading smoothbore cannons pivot-mounted at bow;

HMS Challenger was a Pearl-class corvette of the Royal Navy launched on 13 February 1858 at the Woolwich Dockyard. She served the flagship of the Australia Station between 1866 and 1870.

As part of the North America and West Indies Station, she took part in naval operations during the Second French intervention in Mexico, including the occupation of Veracruz, in 1862. She was assigned as the flagship of Australia Station in 1866, undertaking a punitive expedition in Fiji before leaving the station four years later.

She was picked to undertake the first global marine research expedition: the Challenger expedition. She carried a complement of 243 officers, scientists and sailors when she embarked on her 68,890-nautical-mile (127,580 km) journey.

The United States Space Shuttle Challenger was named after the ship. Her figurehead is on display in the foyer of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.

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