HMS Prince of Wales was one of six 121-gun screw-propelled first-rate three-decker line-of-battle ships of the Royal Navy.

The Prince of Wales was originally a 3,186 ton 120 gun design by John Edye and Isaac Watts for a modified Queen-class sailing line-of-battle ship.

Prince of Wales was reordered to complete as a 121 gun screw line-of-battle ship on 9 April 1856,[2] conversion work started on 27 October 1856.

[1] Prince of Wales was completed toward the end of the unarmoured phase of a naval arms race between Britain and France.

[7] Among those starting their naval careers on her were, in 1877, the future Admiral and First Sea Lord Rosslyn Wemyss, Prince Albert Victor, and his younger brother, the future King George V. A shore-based college at Dartmouth was opened in September 1905 and this was named Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.