HMS Magdala was a Cerberus-class breastwork monitor of the Royal Navy, built specifically to serve as a coastal defence ship for the harbour of Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 1860s.

While limited to harbour defence duties, the breastwork monitors were described by Admiral George Alexander Ballard as being like "full-armoured knights riding on donkeys, easy to avoid but bad to close with.

In July 1866 the India Office asked for two floating batteries to defend Bombay and the Controller of the Navy, Vice Admiral Spencer Robinson recommended that monitors be used.

The engines produced a total of 1,369 indicated horsepower (1,021 kW) on 21 October 1870 during the ship's sea trials which gave her a maximum speed of 10.67 knots (19.76 km/h; 12.28 mph).

The gun had a muzzle velocity of 1,365 ft/s (416 m/s) and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal 12.9 inches (330 mm) of wrought iron armour at 100 yards (91 m).

The superstructure and conning tower were fully armoured, the reason it was called a breastwork, with 8–9 inches (203–229 mm) of wrought iron.