The sinking of H.M.S. Victoria was one of the greatest and most controversial peacetime tragedies ever to befall the Royal Navy. Victoria, the 10,500 ton brand-new flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, was the first battleship to be built for the navy by Armstrong's and was commissioned, after lengthy delays with her two massive 16 1/4-in. 110-ton B.L. guns, on 19 March 1890. Costing almost (850,000, she measured 340 feet in length and was (with her sister Sans Pareil) the last single-turret battleship in the Service and the first to have triple-expansion engines.

On 22 June 1893, eleven ironclads of the Mediterranean Fleet left Beirut and put to sea on manoeuvres under the command of their C.-in C., Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. When off Tripoli, Tryon attempted to reverse the course of his fleet by turning the two lines of ships inwards in succession, a manoeuvre of considerable danger given that the columns were only six cables (1200 yards) apart. The direct result was that the two leading ships collided, Tryon's flagship H.M.S. Victoria being rammed and sunk by H.M.S. Camperdown in a disaster which cost Tryon his life along with 358 of his officers and men. In the subsequent Court Martial, the blame was laid entirely on Tryon's shoulders and, for that one flawerd order, he lost not only his ship but a hitherto brilliant reputation.