WW1 British Royal Navy HMS Hercules Central-Battery Ironclad Postcard

For sale is a WW1 British Royal Navy HMS Hercules Central-Battery Ironclad Postcard. 

  HMS Hercules was a central-battery ironclad of the Royal Navy in the Victorian era, and was the first warship to mount a main armament of 10-inch (250 mm) calibre guns.   She was commissioned at Chatham, and served in the Channel Fleet until 1874.   In 1870 five of her 10-inch guns were damaged when shells burst before leaving the guns' barrels. In 1872 it was reported that three of the 10 inch guns were damaged.   In July 1871 she successfully towed HMS Agincourt off Pearl Rock (Gibraltar).   She was anchored at Funchal, Madeira, on Christmas Day 1872, when a storm parted the anchor chain of HMS Northumberland and the ship drifted onto the ram bow of the Hercules. Northumberland was seriously damaged below the waterline, with one compartment flooded, though she was able to steam to Malta for repairs. Hercules, on the other hand sustained damage to bottom and sides. After a refit from 1874 to 1875 she was posted as Flagship, Mediterranean Fleet, until 1877. Paid off at Portsmouth, she was re-commissioned as Flagship of the Particular Service Squadron formed under the command of Admiral Astley Cooper Key at the time of the Russian war scare in 1878. She was then relegated to the post of guardship in the Clyde until 1881.   She was flagship of the reserve fleet from 1881 until 1890, with a short break in 1885 when she formed part of the second Particular Service Squadron formed under Admiral Geoffrey Hornby.   Modernised between 1892 and 1893, she was held in reserve at Portsmouth until 1904. From March to June 1902 she served temporarily as port guard ship at Portland with the crew of the permanent guardship HMS Revenge, which was in for a refit. In July the same year she was temporarily commissioned by Captain John de Robeck, who transferred to HMS Warrior when it had finished a refit to become depot ship. Her name changed to Calcutta in 1904, she served as depot ship at Gibraltar until 1914; she was then towed home, her engines being by this time inoperable, and became an artificers' training establishment at Portsmouth under the name of Fisgard II. By this time she was lacking masts, funnels, armament and superstructure, and was quite unrecognisable as the ship which had been widely regarded as Reed's masterpiece.   This will be sent via Royal Mail 1st class signed for and dispatched within two working days.