The 'HMS Duke of Wellington', the once-famous flagship of Sir Charles Napier, was launched at Pembroke Dock in 1852. She is pictured here before her towering masts and sails were added.
Throughout the 1850s, Pembroke Dockyard produced the last of the Royal Navy's great wooden line of battleships and played a pioneering role in the development of early steam propulsion. 'HMS Duke of Wellington' and other big wooden liners of the decade were converted while building to carry steam, being 'cut asunder' on the slips and lengthened to make room for boilers and engines.
The three-decker 'HMS Duke of Wellington' was initially launched as the 'HMS Windsor Castle' on 14 September 1852, the same day as the Iron Duke died at Walmer. Her name was changed in his honour a few days later.
'HMS Duke of Wellington', manning 131 guns, served as a flagship in the Baltic during the Russian War. She was later relegated to harbour service and used as one of the depot ships for berthing the men of the Portsmouth Dockyard Reserve.

Source: Lawrence Phillips, 'Pembroke Dockyard' in David W. Howell (ed.), 'Pembrokeshire County History. Volume IV. Modern Pembrokeshire 1815-1974' (Haverfordwest: Pembrokeshire Historical Society, 1993), p. 158.