The rules I play to (http://www.ausbg.org/Ausbg_Building_Regulations_April_2012.pdf) say: "1.1.1 Only ships which were laid down or in commission from 1900 to 1946 (inclusive) are permitted. 1.1.2. Sailing ships are not allowed." I like older ships, so what is the oldest steam warship which was still in commission in 1900?
Burt's "British Battleships 1889-1904" quotes a letter by Sir Charles Bereford complaining about the following ships still being on the effective list in 1900 Ajax (1876) Agamemnon (1876) Temeraire (1873) Inflexible (1873) - A cool one I would love to see some one model Superb (1873) Dreadnought (1872) Neptune (1874) Triumph (1868) Swiftsure (1868) Sultan (1868) Iron Duke (1868) Invincible (1867) Audacious (1867) Monarch (1866) Hercules (1866) This is just the list that still had muzzle loading guns and some were on harbor defence duty.
That's interesting -- I've been interested in Colossus, another en echelon turret ship of very similar layout to Inflexible. I hadn't considered that an even older ship might be a possibility -- certainly plans are easier to get for Inflexible, and being about the same length but beamier it might be easier to build.. Parkes says that Inflexible was in 'Fleet Reserve' in 1900. Does that count as being in commission?
From what I uderstand, fleet reserve had a minimal crew assigned but not enough to be fully manned. For drills they were brought up to their full complements. It would definitely fall under the splitting of hairs rules wise.
Not sure how Britain did it back then; In USN practice, you decom the ship and put it in the fleet reserve, then recommission it if/when it comes back into service.
Cutoff for IRC is sadly 'Only combat ships which were launched between January 1, 1905 and December 31, 1946, and were completed...'
