BRITISH IRONCLADS 1860–75
HMS Warrior and the Royal Navy’s
‘Black Battlefleet’
HMS Warrior, the world’s first ocean-going ironclad, has been preserved and fully restored, and is now a floating museum ship, dominating the entrance to Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard. When she first entered service in the summer of 1861, Warrior was the most powerful warship in the world.
INTRODUCTION
On 12 November 1859, Queen Victoria arrived in Portsmouth to witness the launch of her namesake, HMS Victoria. She was a steam-powered First Rate ship-of-the-line of 121 guns, the largest wooden-hulled warship ever built in Britain. In other words, she was the ultimate wooden-walled sailing warship – and she would be one of the last. Exactly ten years later, on 12 November 1869, and also in Portsmouth, the keel of HMS Devastation was laid. She was a mastless turret ship, the first of her kind. Effectively, she would be the world’s first true battleship. Only a decade separated the two events, but the two ships were worlds apart. The first marked the end of the wooden-walled ships that established Britain’s predominance as a maritime power. The second ensured the Royal Navy maintained that mantle after a decade of innovation like no other in naval history.
The commissioning of Devastation in 1873 marked the start of a new era in warship design. Today this is largely forgotten, overshadowed by a development that utterly transformed naval warfare. That was the launch of HMS Warrior, the world’s first purpose-built seagoing iron warship. She was laid down in 1859 in response to the construction by the French of the
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world’s first seagoing ironclad. Warrior, though, was in a different league to her rival. She was a ship worthy of superlatives: a revolutionary iron-hulled ship, protected by iron plate, powered by reliable engines and armed with a potent battery of heavy guns. Warrior and the many ironclads that followed her represented the ultimate fusion of Victorian technological know-how and British naval might. The old ways represented by the Victoria were swept aside, and a new age of steam, steel and shell was born.
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
Warrior
In the 1850s Britain might still have been the world’s leading maritime power, but it was definitely resting on its laurels. During the Crimean War (1853–56) the French had built iron-clad floating batteries which proved impervious to Russian shot. Even though these were not seagoing vessels, they still represented the future of naval warfare. The French were so impressed that they developed their own seagoing version, a wooden-hulled steam-powered warship which had been cut down, then had iron plates attached to her hull. This ship, La Gloire (‘Glory’), duly became the world’s first seagoing ironclad warship. She was still under construction when news of her reached Britain. It was quickly realized that this new warship was more than a match for the wooden-hulled ships-of-theline which formed Britain’s battlefleet. If Britain was to maintain its naval standing, then something had to be done, and done quickly.
Reluctantly goaded into action, the Admiralty responded by calling for proposals from commercial firms for an iron-clad warship which could provide an antidote to this French threat. Of the dozen or so responses, all but two called for an iron-hulled vessel. The Admiralty had experimented with iron-hulled ships during the 1840s, but found them vulnerable to enemy
The ship’s wheels of HMS Warrior on the upper deck were duplicated by these on the gun deck, and another set below them on the lower deck. This was not merely in case of damage –Warrior had a small rudder, and a lot of effort was needed to turn her, meaning all three sets would be fully manned while she was under way.
The initial design requirements for Warrior were drawn up by Sir Baldwin Wake Walker, Surveyor of the Navy from 1848–60. However, the final design work was carried out by his successor Isaac Watts and the Navy’s Chief Engineer Thomas Lloyd. Walker is shown here in the uniform of the Turkish Navy, having served with them during the early 1840s.
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The term the ‘Black Battlefleet’ was used to encompass Britain’s entire force of ironclads, the term referring to their all-black hulls, broken only by a white trim around the gunwale. In this watercolour by an anonymous artist, painted in 1875, Devastation and Monarch lead a cluster of broadside and casemate battery ironclads during manoeuvres in the English Channel.
fire. The metal would shatter when hit, forming lethal jagged shards. However, recent experiments had shown that iron plate at least 4in thick was virtually impervious to shot and shell. So, with no great enthusiasm, the Admiralty selected the best proposal, the Navy’s Chief Constructor Isaac Watts adapted the plans, then contracts were issued for the building of two of these vessels. The Warrior would be built on the Thames, and her sister ship Black Prince on the Clyde. Their novel iron construction meant they had to be built in commercial yards, as the royal dockyards had no experience in the building of iron ships.
These ships were a mix of the old and the new. Their guns were arrayed in long broadsides, just like a sailing man-of-war, and they could be powered by either steam or sail. They were classified as frigates as they had only one gun deck. However, for all practical purposes they were capital ships – what might have been called ships-of-the-line in the wooden-walled navy. They were dubbed ‘ironclads’ due to their armoured protection, and the term stuck and was applied to the warships which succeeded them. At the time there was no sense that this represented a revolution in ship design. That, though, was exactly what was happening.
Warrior Class
Type broadside ironclad (two in class)
Displacement 9,137 tons (Black Prince 9,250 tons)
Dimensions length 380ft (115.87m) between perpendiculars, 420ft (128m) overall; beam 58ft 4in (17.78m); draught 26ft (7.92m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Penn horizontal trunk steam engine and ten boilers, generating 5,267ihp (Black Prince 5,770ihp)
Maximum speed 14.1 knots (Black Prince 13.6 knots)
Coal bunkerage 850 tons
Armour belt: 4.5in iron with 18in wood backing; bulkheads: 4.5in iron
Armament (1867) four 8in rifled muzzle-loaders (RMLs), 28 7in RMLs (Black Prince 24 7in RMLs), four 20-pdr breach-loaders (BLs)
Complement 707
Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Warrior Ditchburn & Mare, Blackwall
May 1859
Black Prince Napier, Clydeside October 1859
December 1860
February 1861
October 1861 Preserved as museum ship, Portsmouth
September 1862 Broken up 1923
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Above all, Warrior and her sister were designed to take on and defeat La Gloire. They were faster, better protected and better armed than their French rival, and unlike La Gloire they were true ocean-going vessels, as befitted a navy with global commitments. They had their limitations though. Their armoured belts covered only part of their gun decks. The rest of their hulls were unprotected, including their steering gear. These faults would be rectified in the ironclads which followed.
Warrior was built quickly. She was laid down in May 1859, and she entered service in October 1861, 14 months behind her French rival. That, though, was only the start. Within two months a second British ironclad, the Defence, would enter service, while in 1862 Defence’s sister Resistance would join the fleet, followed by the Black Prince. These four warships formed the nucleus of Britain’s new ironclad battlefleet. The Warrior class, and eventually all those that followed, all bore the same colour scheme. Ochre funnels and masts rose above the ships’ sides, which were painted a uniform black, relieved only by a white trim around the upperworks. Inevitably, they collectively became known as the ‘Black Battlefleet’. This was a battlefleet which broke centuries of tradition, and which continually evolved as new designs and new technology led to the building of ever-more-potent ironclads.
Defence Class
Type broadside ironclad (two in class)
Displacement 6,150 tons (Resistance 6,070 tons)
Dimensions length 280ft (85.3m) between perpendiculars, 302ft (92.04m) overall; beam 54ft 2in (16.51m); draught 25ft (7.62m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Penn horizontal trunk steam engine and four boilers, generating 2,540ihp (Resistance 2,430ihp)
Maximum speed 11.6 knots (Resistance 11.8 knots)
Coal bunkerage 460 tons
Armour belt: 4.5in iron with 18in wood backing; bulkheads: 4.5in iron
Armament (1867) two 8in RMLs, 14 7in RMLs
Complement 460
Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Defence Palmers, Jarrow
Resistance Westwood & Baillie, Millwall
Broadside ironclads
December 1859
December 1859
April 1860 December 1861 Broken up 1935
April 1861 July 1862
Sold out of service 1898, subsequently foundered (1899) and broken up
The Warrior and Black Prince were followed by a number of smaller versions following the same design, the first being Defence and Resistance. They displaced 6,150 tons, carried 16 guns and made only 12 knots. However, their armoured belts, otherwise identical to Warrior, extended the length of their gun decks. The ends of these ships, and their steering gear, remained the same. Being shorter than Warrior they were much more manoeuvrable. In 1860 three more ironclads were ordered. The two ironclad frigates of the Hector class were broadly similar to the Defence class, but they displaced 6,710 tons owing to their heavier armour, which now extended the full length of the ship.
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ABOVE LEFT
When they were first launched in April 1861, HMS Resistance (shown here) and her sister ship HMS Defence were painted in the traditional manner for a frigate, with a white band running along the line of her gun ports. Both ships were repainted in the late 1860s to conform to the all-black style preferred for British ironclads.
ABOVE RIGHT
The small broadside ironclad HMS Defence and her sister ship Resistance were essentially smaller versions of the Warrior class, designed and built at speed to counter the threat posed by the nascent French ironclad fleet. Unlike Warrior though, these vessels were fitted with a ram bow.
Achilles was a modified version of Warrior , with an armoured belt extending the full length of her hull, of the same thickness as Warrior, but tapering to 2.5in outside the gun deck. This time her steering gear was fully protected. At 9,829 tons, Achilles displaced more than Warrior, although her hull was the same length. However, while the Warrior class had elegant clipper bows, these five new ironclads had blunter stems, with a ram at the prow. This represented a break with tradition in the building of British warships, so the Admiralty classed the four smaller vessels as ‘steam rams’. They were soon re-labelled as second line armoured ships.
Hector Class
Type broadside ironclad (two in class)
Displacement 6,710 tons
Dimensions length 280ft 2in (85.39m) between perpendiculars; beam 56ft 3in (17.4m); draught 25ft (7.62m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Maudslay horizontal return connecting rod steam engine and six boilers, generating 3,260ihp (Valiant 3,560ihp)
Maximum speed 12.6 knots (Valiant 12.4 knots)
Coal bunkerage 450 tons
Armour belt: 4.5in iron; bulkheads: 4.5in iron; battery: 4.5in iron
Armament two 8in RMLs, 16 7in RMLs
Complement 530
AHMS ACHILLES & HMS PRINCE CONSORT
The Achilles (top) was an improved version of the Warrior class, and followed the same basic design, including size and hull shape. However, she had four masts, which between them carried 44,000 square feet of sail – the largest spread of canvas ever seen in a British warship. They proved unsatisfactory though, and in 1865–66 various alternative rigs were tried, which resulted in Achilles losing a mast. Similarly, her armament changed during her first five years, and by 1868 her smoothbores had been replaced by rifled muzzle-loaders. She remained on the active list until 1885. Unlike Achilles, Prince Consort (bottom) began life as a 91-gun steam-powered Second Rate ship-ofthe-line, but in 1861, while still on the stocks, she and her two sister ships were rebuilt as ironclads. This was done in response to the rapid growth of the French fleet. The two-deckers were lengthened to accommodate the extra machinery and armour required, and their hulls were strengthened before the iron cladding was applied to their outer hulls. In the case of the Prince Consort class, this process was less successful than with some other wooden-hulled ironclads, as they were slow and rolled badly. Still, Prince Consort and her sisters were capable of holding their own in battle against their French ironclad counterparts, and so proved their worth as a cost-effective stopgap. Both ships are shown here as they appeared in the spring of 1865, while serving with the Channel Fleet.
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The Minotaur class represented the ultimate development of the broadside ironclad. The Minotaur, shown here, had a powerful armament of 36 rifled guns, with an armoured belt that ran the full length of her long hull. Minotaur and her two sister ships were the only five-masted ironclads in British service.
Ship Builder
Hector Napier, Clydeside March 1861 September 1862 February 1864 Broken up 1905
Valiant Westwood & Baillie, Millwall, & Thames Iron Works, Bow
February 1861 October 1863 September 1868 Broken up 1957
Achilles was completed in late 1864, by which time the Admiralty had ordered three even bigger iron-hulled warships. These were enlarged versions of the Achilles , and were all laid down in late 1861, just a few months after Achilles, but around the same time Warrior was completed. The most visible difference between these three ships (Minotaur, Agincourt and Northumberland ) and the three preceding large ironclads was their five masts. In theory this and their large press of sail should have made them fast under canvas, but their displacement rendered them mediocre performers under wind power. By contrast though, all three ships could make over 14 knots under steam.
Achilles Class
Type broadside ironclad (one in class)
Displacement 9,829 tons
Dimensions length 380ft (115.82m) between perpendiculars; beam 58ft 4in (17.77m); draught 27ft 3in (8.31m)
Propulsion single shaft powered by a Penn horizontal trunk steam engine and ten boilers, generating 5,720ihp
Maximum speed 14.3 knots
Coal bunkerage 740 tons
Armour belt: 4.5in iron with 18in wood backing; bulkheads: 4.5in iron; battery: 4.5in iron
Armament (1868) four 8in RMLs, 22 7in RMLs
Complement 709
Ship
Achilles Chatham Dockyard August 1861 December 1863 November 1864 Broken up 1925
They displaced around 1,000 tons more than Achilles, most of which was due to their extra armour. In the Minotaur class the armour covered the whole ship’s side, from the level of the upper deck to well below the
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Laid
Launched Completed Fate
Down
Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
waterline. Over the long gun battery this belt was an inch thicker than in the previous ironclads, while an armoured bulkhead at the forward end of the gun deck offered additional protection. Minotaur was completed in 1865, but spent the next 18 months trying out various sailing rigs and armament configurations, and so the completion of the other ships was delayed until these trials were complete. In the end they all entered service during 1867–68.
Minotaur Class
Type
broadside ironclad (three in class)
Displacement Agincourt 10,600 tons, Minotaur 10,690 tons, Northumberland 10,784 tons
Dimensions length 400ft 3in (122m) between perpendiculars, 407ft (124m) overall; beam 59ft 6in (18.4m); draught 27ft 9in (8.46m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Penn two-cylinder horizontal trunk steam engine (Agincourt, Maudslay return connecting rod steam engine) and ten boilers, generating 6,700ihp (Minotaur), 6,867ihp (Agincourt), 6,545ihp (Northumberland)
Maximum speed 14.1 knots (Minotaur 14.3 knots)
Coal bunkerage 750 tons
Armour belt and battery: 5.5in iron amidships, reducing to 4.5in at extremities, with 10in wood backing; bulkheads: 5.5in iron
Armament Minotaur & Agincourt: four 9in RMLs, 24 7in RMLs, eight 24-pdr RMLs
Northumberland: four 9in RMLs, 22 8in RMLs, two 7in RMLs
Complement 800
Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Minotaur Thames Iron Works, Bow September 1861 December 1863 December 1868
Agincourt Lairds, Birkenhead October 1861 March 1865 June 1867
Northumberland Millwall Iron Works, Millwall October 1861 April 1866
Broken up 1922
Broken up 1960
October 1868 Sold out of service 1927, as hulk
By then Northumberland had been modified slightly, having her armour beyond the gun deck removed, and armoured bulkheads fitted. This was done to compensate for her heavy armament. When the Minotaur-class ships entered service they were the largest ironclads in the world. Still, they had their critics, and many felt they were unnecessarily little more than a vanity project for their designer Isaac Watts. One of these critics, Edward Reed, actually succeeded Watts as the Navy’s Chief Constructor in 1863, and promptly abandoned the broadside ironclad in favour of his own design.
The wooden conversions
In early 1861, while Warrior was still fitting out, word reached the Admiralty that the French were about to build ten more ironclads. It was impossible to increase the naval budget to counter this, but the Controller of the Navy suggested a pragmatic solution. All of the French ironclads were wooden-hulled ships, protected by iron plate, so he suggested converting woodenhulled warships currently under construction into wooden-hulled ironclads, built along French lines. The Admiralty embraced this stop-gap
The Prince Consort class wooden-hulled broadside ironclad HMS Caledonia, pictured at her moorings in Valetta Harbour in Malta in 1868. At the time, she was the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, so becoming the first flagship ironclad in the Royal Navy.
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solution, and plans were drawn up. This was an important moment in naval construction. Even before Warrior entered service, the era of the woodenhulled ship-of-the-line had come to an end. From that moment on, all British capital ships would be protected by armour.
The first ship to be converted was the Royal Oak, laid down in Chatham the previous year. She was being built as a screw-propelled two-deck shipof-the-line of 90 guns, but from June 1861 she was completely rebuilt. First, her upper deck was cut down and her hull was also lengthened by 21ft (6.4m) to accommodate her guns, which would now be carried on a single gun deck. Iron plates were then fitted to her wooden sides, so that when finished she carried a similar armoured belt to the Warrior. There was no need for wooden backing as her oak sides were already 28in (71cm) thick. This dramatically modified ship was launched in the autumn of 1863, and entered service seven months later.
The Royal Oak was the first of several vessels to undergo this conversion. She had been laid down as a Bulwark-class steam-powered ship-of-the-line. Of these, five were cancelled, while the remaining eight became wooden-hulled broadside ironclads. The Royal Oak was one of a kind, and formed her own class. The Triumph was renamed the Prince Consort while under construction and became the namesake of a new ironclad class, together with Caledonia and Ocean. All of these four ships were wooden-hulled broadside ironclads, of roughly the same size as the ships of the Defence and Hector classes. All had a similar displacement, but carried a slightly larger armament of 24 guns.
Prince Consort Class
Type wooden-hulled broadside ironclad (three in class)
Displacement 6,832 tons
Dimensions length 273ft (83.21m) between perpendiculars; beam 58ft 6in (17.83m); draught 24ft (7.31m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Maudslay horizontal return connecting rod steam engine and eight boilers, generating 1,000ihp
Maximum speed 12.5 knots (Caledonia 12.9 knots)
Coal bunkerage 550 tons
Armour belt and battery: 4.5in iron amidships, reducing to 3in at extremities
Armament (1867) four 8in RMLs, 20 7in RMLs
Complement 605
Ship Builder
Laid Down Launched
Completed Fate
Prince Consort Pembroke Dockyard August 1860 June 1862 April 1864 Broken up 1882
Caledonia Woolwich Dockyard October 1860 October 1862 July 1865 Broken up 1886
Ocean Devonport Dockyard August 1860 March 1862 July 1865 Broken up 1882
Three other former Bulwark-class ships, Royal Alfred , Zealous and Repulse, were all slightly different from each other, but were of similar size and displacement. Work on them was delayed pending trials of the first batch of conversions, by which time the Constructor in charge of their conversion was Edward Reed, who grouped the guns amidships inside an armoured box. In Royal Alfred, this armour was 6in thick. The belt extended the full length of the ship, and below the waterline, but outside the central battery its thickness was reduced. Incidentally, Repulse, completed in 1870, was the last wooden capital ship to enter service with the Royal Navy.
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Royal Oak Class
Type
wooden-hulled broadside ironclad (one in class)
Displacement 6,366 tons
Dimensions length 273ft (83.21m) between perpendiculars; beam 58ft 3in (17.75m); draught 24ft (7.31m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Maudslay horizontal connecting rod steam engine and six boilers, generating 3,000ihp
Maximum speed 12.5 knots
Coal bunkerage
550 tons
Armour belt and battery: 4.5in iron
Armament (1867) four 8in RMLs, 20 7in RMLs
Complement 585
Ship Builder Laid Down Launched
Completed Fate
Royal Oak Chatham Dockyard May 1860 September 1862 April 1863
Mothballed 1871, broken up 1885
Two other wooden conversions were the Lord Clyde and the Lord Warden, which were actually purpose-built wooden-hulled broadside ironclads, built to use up the large stock of unwanted timber in the royal dockyards. These were among the heaviest wooden ships ever built, and probably the slowest ironclads under sail. They were plagued by problems – Lord Warden by accidents and Lord Clyde by rotten timbers. After nine years both ships were taken out of active service. In fact, this reflected the fate of other woodenhulled ironclads. As the ships aged, their timbers suffered from the added weight of their armoured cladding, and so within a decade most were either laid up or placed in reserve. What they did, though, was fill the ranks of the ‘Black Battlefleet’ while other iron-hulled warships were being built.
Royal Alfred Class
Type wooden-hulled broadside ironclad (one in class)
Displacement 6,707 tons
ABOVE LEFT
HMS Zealous, pictured off the western coast of Canada during the early 1870s. During her lengthy deployment in the Pacific she operated almost entirely under sail because of the scarcity of suitable stocks of coal. Like most other woodenhulled ships which had been converted into ironclads, she lacked the strength of her ironbuilt contemporaries. Zealous was relegated to reserve duties by 1873, and was laid up two years later.
ABOVE RIGHT
The wooden-hulled broadside ironclad HMS Lord Warden, pictured in Malta in 1871. Behind her is her sister ship Lord Clyde, which was built using rotten timbers, and so was decommissioned in 1872.
Dimensions length 273ft (83.21m) between perpendiculars; beam 58ft 6in (17.83m); draught 25ft 5in (7.75m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Maudslay horizontal connecting rod steam engine and six boilers, generating 3,230ihp
Maximum speed 12.4 knots
Coal bunkerage 550 tons
Armour belt and battery: 6in iron; bulkheads: 4.5in iron
Armament (1867) ten 9in RMLs, eight 7in RMLs
Complement 605
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Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Royal Alfred Portsmouth Dockyard December 1859 October 1864 March 1867 Broken up 1885
Zealous Class
Type wooden-hulled broadside ironclad (one in class)
Displacement 6,096 tons
Dimensions length 252ft (76.81m) between perpendiculars; beam 58ft 6in (17.83m); draught 25ft 5in (7.75m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Maudslay horizontal return connecting rod steam engine and six boilers, generating 3,623ihp
Maximum speed 11.7 knots
Coal bunkerage 660 tons
Armour belt and battery: 4.5in iron; bulkheads: 3in iron
Armament 20 7in RMLs
Complement 510
Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Zealous Pembroke Dockyard October 1859 March 1864 October 1866 Mothballed 1875, broken up 1885
Repulse Class
Type wooden-hulled broadside ironclad (one in class)
Displacement 6,190 tons
Dimensions length 252ft (76.81m) between perpendiculars; beam 59ft (17.98m); draught 24ft (7.31m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Penn horizontal trunk steam engine and six boilers, generating 3,350ihp
Maximum speed 12.5 knots
Coal bunkerage 460 tons
Armour belt and battery: 6in iron; bulkheads: 4.5in iron
Armament 12 8in RMLs
Complement 515
Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Repulse Woolwich & Sheerness Dockyards April 1859 April 1868 January 1870 Mothballed 1885, broken up 1889
HMS AGINCOURT & HMS BELLEROPHON
The broadside ironclad Agincourt (top) and her sister ships Minotaur and Northumberland were truly magnificent-looking ships, and represented the ultimate development of the large ironhulled broadside ironclad design that began with Warrior and Black Prince, then evolved into the four-masted Achilles. Effectively, they were designed to be protected by the thickest armour afloat and to move at the greatest possible speed. The Minotaur class differed from Warrior in having an armoured deck that ran the whole length of the hull. This meant there were no armoured bulkheads to break up the impressively long expanse of gun deck. The most notable feature of Agincourt and her sisters though, were their five masts, the last two carrying spanker sails, but despite this they still had a reputation as being poor performers under sail. Agincourt spent most of her career serving with the Channel Fleet, and remained in active service until 1889.
While Agincourt represented the ultimate broadside ironclad, the Bellerophon (bottom) was effectively the first of a new breed of ironclad, where the armament was concentrated in a box battery amidships. This design came to be known as the central battery ironclad, although in her outward appearance Bellerophon looked little different from her broadside-armed predecessors. This pioneering design incorporated other innovations too, such as a balanced rudder and a complete rather than a partial double bottom, which gave her added protection in the event of a grounding, a ramming or a torpedo hit. Bellerophon spent much of her life as the flagship of the North America station.
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B
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Sir Edward Reed succeeded Isaac Watts as the Royal Navy’s Chief Constructor in 1863, and held the post for seven years. He was a leading proponent of the central battery, but his real triumph was the development of the mastless turret ship.
Lord Clyde Class
Type wooden-hulled broadside ironclad (two in class)
Displacement Lord Clyde 7,750 tons, Lord Warden 7,842 tons
Dimensions length 280ft (85.34m) between perpendiculars; beam 59ft (17.98m); draught 26ft (7.92m)
Propulsion Lord Clyde: single shaft, powered by a Ravenhill two-cylinder horizontal trunk steam engine and eight boilers, generating 6,064ihp; Lord Warden: single shaft, powered by a Maudslay three cylinder return connecting rod steam engine and nine boilers, generating 6,700ihp
Maximum speed Lord Clyde 13.4 knots, Lord Warden 13.5 knots
Coal bunkerage 600 tons
Armour belt and battery: 5.5in iron amidships, reducing to 4.5in at extremities, with 6in wooden backing
Armament (1867) two 9in RMLs, 14 8in RMLs, two 7in RMLs, two 20-pdr BLs (saluting guns)
Complement 605
Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Lord Clyde Pembroke Dockyard September 1863 October 1864 June 1866 Broken up 1875
Lord Warden Chatham Dockyard December 1863 March 1865 August 1867 Broken up 1889
Central battery ironclads
In 1863, when Edward Reed succeeded Isaac Watts as Chief Constructor he abandoned his predecessor’s commitment to broadside ironclads. Reed had his own vision of smaller and more manoeuvrable capital ships, which were fast but also armed with the heaviest guns available. His first ship was the Bellerophon, which carried most of her guns in a central battery, protected by 6in of armour. This armoured box was closed off by armoured bulkheads at either end, with additional armour protecting bow chasers at the forward end of the main deck. Below the waterline Bellerophon had a double bottom – the first complete double bottom of any British capital ship. She also had a new system of hull framing, and numerous watertight bulkheads below the waterline.
Bellerophon Class
Type central battery ironclad (one in class)
Displacement 7,551 tons
Dimensions length 300ft (91.44m) between perpendiculars; beam 56ft 1in (17.09m); draught 24ft 8in (7.52m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Penn two-cylinder horizontal trunk steam engine and eight boilers, generating 6,521ihp
Maximum speed 14.2 knots
Coal bunkerage 640 tons
Armour belt: 6in iron with 10in wood backing; bulkheads: 5in iron; conning tower: 5in iron
Armament ten 9in RMLs, five 7in RMLs
Complement 650
Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Bellerophon Chatham Dockyard December 1863 May 1865 April 1866 Broken up 1922
Bellerophon also benefited from a balanced rudder, making it easier for the helmsman to turn the ship. This meant she could turn around in 559 yards (511m), as opposed to 1,050 yards (960m) for Warrior. She was fitted with an armoured conning tower abaft the mainmast. The advantage of the central battery system was that it allowed a smaller number of heavier
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guns to be carried. The size of British naval ordnance was growing steadily, and Bellerophon’s ten 9in rifled muzzle-loaders (RMLs) made her one of the most powerfully armed ironclads in the ‘Black Battlefleet’. Bellerophon represented a major step forward in ironclad design, as the ship was well armed, fast, manoeuvrable and well protected. Reed would develop this central battery design further, but it was Bellerophon that marked the start of this new phase in British naval architecture.
Hercules Class
Type central battery ironclad (one in class)
Displacement 8,830 tons
Dimensions length 325ft (99.06m) between perpendiculars; beam 59ft (17.98m); draught 25ft 4in (7.72m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Penn two-cylinder horizontal trunk steam engine and nine boilers, generating 7,178ihp
Maximum speed 14.7 knots
Coal bunkerage 610 tons
Armour belt: 9in iron, reducing to 6in at extremities, with 10–20in wood backing; bulkheads: 5–6in iron; battery: 6–8in iron
Armament eight 10in RMLs, two 9in RMLs, four 7in RMLs
Complement 638
Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Hercules Chatham Dockyard February 1866 February 1868 November 1868 Broken up 1932
Hercules, laid down in early 1866, was an enlarged version of Bellerophon , capable of carrying heavier 10in guns, and with an even thicker 9in protective belt, reducing to 6in outside the central battery. Unlike Bellerophon she had recessed ports at either end of her battery, to permit something akin to end-on fire – in other words firing as close to directly ahead or astern as possible. Hercules entered service in late 1868, the same year as Minotaur and Northumberland, yet she was already a generation ahead of them in ship design.
HMS Bellerophon was the first central battery ironclad in British service, and so she represented a major step forward in warship design. She had better armoured protection than the broadside ironclads that preceded her, and she was the first major British warship to incorporate a full double bottom, which improved her chances of survival if she was rammed or torpedoed.
The next step in the evolution of the central battery, as in the Hercules permitted some degree of all-round fire, thanks to recesses which allowed some guns to fire forward or aft. In the background is the Devastation. She and her sister ship Thunderer represented a revolution in warship design, although at the time these mastless warships were viewed with considerable scepticism.
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The Iron Duke was one of four Audacious-class central battery ironclads to join the fleet during the winter of 1870–71. They were designed for use on foreign stations – primarily the Mediterranean Fleet – and so had a shallower draught than most of their contemporaries.
Audacious Class
Type central battery ironclad (four in class)
Displacement 6,010 tons
Dimensions length 280ft (85.34m) between perpendiculars; beam 54ft (16.46m); draught 22ft 7in (6.88m)
Propulsion twin shafts, powered by two 2 cylinder horizontal return connecting rod steam engines and six boilers, generating (Audacious) 4,020ihp; (Invincible) 4,830ihp; (Iron Duke) 4,270ihp; (Vanguard) 4,830ihp
Maximum speed Audacious: 13.2 knots; Invincible: 14.1 knots; Iron Duke: 13.6 knots; Vanguard: 14.5 knots
Coal bunkerage
460 tons
Armour belt: 8in iron reducing to 6in at extremities, with 8–10in wood backing; bulkheads: 5in iron; battery: 6in iron
Armament ten 9in RMLs, four 6in RMLs, six 20-pdr BLs (saluting guns)
Complement 450
Ship
Builder Laid Down Launched
Audacious Napier, Clydeside
Invincible
Iron Duke Pembroke Dockyard
Vanguard Laird, Birkenhead
June 1867
June 1867
August 1868
October 1867
February 1869
May 1869
March 1870
Completed Fate
September 1870 Broken up 1922
October 1870 Foundered off Portland, 1914
January 1871 Broken up 1906
January 1870 September 1870 Sunk in collision, 1 September 1876
The Audacious class of four vessels, which followed soon after Hercules , were designed as 2nd class ironclads, intended for service in foreign stations such as the Mediterranean Fleet or the American and West Indies Station. Audacious, Invincible, Iron Duke and Vanguard had an even more centralized battery than Bellerophon or Hercules, split over two decks. The main battery of 9in RMLs fired through regular broadside ports, but the two 6in RMLs on each side of the upper battery were mounted in corner casemate ports, capable of firing ahead or astern, or to the beam. Each of these
IRONCLADS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN, 1868
The wooden-hulled ironclads Royal Oak and Lord Clyde both served with the Mediterranean Fleet, the former from 1863 until 1871, when she was sent home for a refit, and the latter from 1868 until 1870, when she returned home to have a new engine fitted. Royal Oak was never recommissioned, and while the Lord Clyde returned to the Mediterranean in 1871, within a year she was back in Britain, having run aground off the island of Pantellaria, which caused sufficient damage to her timbers that she required extensive repairs. After being patched up in Malta she returned to Britain, where she was decommissioned and eventually scrapped. So, neither ship can really be regarded as particularly successful, and like most ironclads converted from wooden-hulled vessels they had relatively short careers.
This scene is set in the autumn of 1868 while the Mediterranean Fleet was cruising off the Spanish Mediterranean coast, during a period of escalating tension following a revolution in Spain, the abdication of Queen Isabella II and the founding of a Spanish Republic. Royal Oak is the ship in the centre of this line, with Lord Clyde following astern. In the interest of showing a range of ironclads, we have taken the liberty of adding the central battery ironclad Hercules to the squadron, even though she was serving with the Channel Fleet at the time, only becoming the Mediterranean flagship in 1874. Hercules was a powerful addition to any fleet, with her main battery of 10in RMLs mounted inside her armoured casemate, which had embrasures in it to allow the first and last guns in each battery to train fore and aft.
18
C
batteries was well protected by an armoured box. Like those before them, these ships were fitted with a simple blunt ram, the effectiveness of which was demonstrated in 1875, when Vanguard was accidentally rammed and sunk by Iron Duke.
Sultan Class
Type
central battery ironclad (one in class)
Displacement 9,540 tons
Dimensions length 325ft (99.06m) between perpendiculars; beam 59ft (17.98m); draught 26ft 5in (8.05m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Penn two-cylinder horizontal trunk steam engine and eight boilers, generating 7,720ihp
Maximum speed 14.1 knots
Coal bunkerage 740 tons
Armour belt: 9in iron, reducing to 6in at extremities, with 10–12in wood backing; bulkheads: 4.5–6in iron; main battery: 9in iron; upper battery: 8in iron
Armament eight 10in RMLs, four 9in RMLs, seven 20-pdr BLs (saluting guns)
Complement 633
Ship Builder Laid Down
Sultan Chatham Dockyard February 1868 May 1870 October 1871 Broken up 1946
Other central battery ironclads followed. Sultan was an improved version of Hercules, which incorporated the Audacious-class notion of a split-level central battery. This replaced the embrasures fore and aft in the main gun deck, as a pair of 9in RMLs in upper-deck level embrasures provided end-on fire. So too did another pair of 9in guns carried as bow chasers on the forecastle, protected by an armoured bulkhead. The two smaller central battery ironclads of the Swiftsure class were 2nd class ironclads, designed for service in the Far East. Unusually, they were sheathed in wood and copper, to protect their iron lower hulls from fouling. When Swiftsure and Triumph entered service in 1872–73 they were the last British capital ships to be fitted with lifting mechanisms for their propellers.
Swiftsure Class
Type central battery ironclad (two in class)
Displacement Swiftsure 6,910 tons Triumph 6,640 tons
Dimensions length 280ft (85.34m) between perpendiculars; beam 55ft (16.76m); draught 25ft (7.62m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Maudslay two cylinder horizontal return connecting rod steam engine and six boilers, generating; Swiftsure: 4,910ihp Triumph: 4,890ihp
Maximum speed Swiftsure 13.8 knots, Triumph 14.1 knots
Coal bunkerage 550 tons
Armour belt: 8in iron, reducing to 6in at extremities, with 8–10in wood backing; bulkheads: 4–5in iron; battery: 6in iron
Armament ten 9in RMLs, four 6in RMLs, six 20-pdr BLs (saluting guns)
Complement 450
Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Swiftsure Palmers, Jarrow August 1868 June 1870 June 1872 Broken up 1908
Triumph August 1868 September 1870 April 1873 Broken up 1921
Three more central battery ironclads fell into this group of ships in terms of design, even though they entered service after 1875, the end of the period
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Launched Completed Fate
covered in this volume. Alexandra was an improved version of Sultan, with a lower central battery protected by up to 12in of armour, which ran the whole length of the ship, reducing to 6in fore and aft. She carried six 10in RMLs in her lower battery, with two more providing end-on fire from its forward corners. Each side of the upper battery had an 11in gun in its forward corner and a 10in one facing aft. The need to recess these upper-deck guns reduced the width of the upper deck. Alexandra was the first ship in the ‘Black Battlefleet’ to mount vertical compound engines – a significant step forward in terms of marine propulsion, giving Alexandra a top speed in excess of 15 knots. The ship was also the last pure central battery ironclad to join the ‘Black Battlefleet’.
Alexandra Class
Type central battery ironclad (one in class)
Displacement 9,492 tons
Dimensions length 325ft (99.06m) between perpendiculars, 344ft (104.85m) overall; beam 63ft 10in (19.46m); draught 26ft 3in (8m)
Propulsion Two shafts, powered by two Humphreys two cylinder vertical inverted compound steam engines and 12 boilers, generating 8,498ihp
Maximum speed 15.1 knots
Coal bunkerage
500 tons
Armour belt: 12in iron, reducing to 6in at extremities, with 10–12in wood backing; bulkheads: 5–8in iron; main battery: 12in iron; upper battery: 8in iron; deck: 1–1.5in iron
Armament two 11in RMLs, ten 10in RMLs, six 20-pdr BLs (saluting guns), four torpedo carriages
Complement 674
Ship Builder Laid Down
Alexandra Chatham Dockyard March 1873 April 1875 January 1877 Broken up 1908
Temeraire Class
Type central battery ironclad (one in class)
Displacement 8,540 tons
Dimensions length 285ft (86.87m) between perpendiculars; beam 62ft (18.9m); draught 27ft (8.23m)
Propulsion Two shafts, powered by two Humphreys & Tennant two cylinder vertical inverted compound steam engines and 12 boilers, generating 7,697ihp
Maximum speed 14.6 knots
Coal bunkerage 400 tons
Armour belt: 11in iron, reducing to 5.5in at extremities, with 10–12in wood backing; bulkheads: 5–8in iron; battery: 8in iron; barbettes: 8–10in iron; deck: 1–1.5in iron
Armament four 11in RMLs, four 10in RMLs, four 20-pdr BLs (saluting guns), two torpedo launchers
Complement 580
Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Temeraire Chatham Dockyard August 1873 May 1876 August 1877 Broken up 1921
Temeraire, designed by Reed’s successor Nathanial Barnaby, was a real hybrid. In theory she was a central battery ironclad, with four 10in RMLs firing from broadside ports, and two 11in RMLs in corner ports providing end-on fire. A second pair of 11in RMLs, though, were mounted on the upper deck, one forward, one aft, in what would traditionally be the bow
The firing of a 10in RML on board HMS Alexandra. These 18-ton guns fired a shell weighing 400lb (181.4kg), which had to be loaded using a system of overhead winches and rammers. At 1,000 yards, this gun’s shells could pierce up to 9in of unbacked wrought iron.
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Launched Completed Fate
and stern chase positions. These sat inside open-topped circular barbettes protected by 10in of armour, while the guns themselves were mounted on Moncrieff disappearing carriages. These were raised to fire, but could be lowered below the lip of the barbette for reloading. Temeraire was the first barbette ship in British service, and with her heavy armament and thick armour she was a powerful addition to the fleet.
Finally, there was Superb, designed by Sir Edward Reed for the Turkish Navy, and built in the Thames Ironworks in Blackwall. She began life as Hamidieh, and was essentially a slightly larger version of the British Hercules class. She was completed in 1877, but before she could be delivered the Russo–Turkish War (1877–78) broke out, and under its neutrality obligations the British government was forced to detain the ship. She was duly purchased from the Turks in February 1878, and after extensive alterations she finally entered service with the Royal Navy in 1880 as HMS Superb. While Superb joined the fleet after the end of the period covered by this volume, in terms of design her place is with the earlier ironclads of the ‘Black Battlefleet.’
Superb Class
Type central battery ironclad (one in class)
Displacement 9,710 tons
Dimensions length 332ft 4in (101.3m) between perpendiculars; beam 59ft (17.98m); draught 25ft 6in (7.77m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Maudslay two cylinder horizontal direct acting steam engine and nine boilers, generating 6,580ihp
Maximum speed 13.2 knots
Coal bunkerage 600 tons
Armour belt: 12in iron, reducing to 7in at extremities, with 8–12in wood backing; bulkheads: 10in iron; battery: 12in iron; conning tower: 8in iron; deck: 1.5in iron
Armament 16 10in RMLs, four 14in torpedo launchers
Complement 654
Ship
Superb (ex-Hamidieh) Thames Iron Works, Bow March 1873
HMS MONARCH & HMS VANGUARD, 1871
While the Warrior represented a major revolution in warship design, it was the development of the gun turret that represented the next quantum leap in naval architecture. After building a number of small coastal defence turret ships, the Admiralty ordered the construction of two ocean-going versions – the Captain and the Monarch. When Monarch entered service in 1869 she was the fastest ironclad in the fleet, and proved a reliable and successful warship. Her steam-powered turrets each carried a pair of 12in 25-ton RMLs, which proved as effective as the ship in which they were mounted. The only real drawback of Monarch’s design was her inability to train her guns fore and aft owing to her masts, rigging and superstructure. For the most part, she served in the Channel Fleet, remaining in active service until 1902.
While the four smaller central battery ironclads of the Audacious class were far less impressive, they were destined to fulfil a very different role. While Monarch (top) became the most powerful ship in the Channel Fleet, Vanguard (bottom) and her three sister ships of the Audacious class were built for service overseas, and rated as Second Class Ironclads. Despite this limited design objective, they were innovative, being the first British ironclads to mount their ordnance on two decks, within the protective confines of their armoured casemate. Only the protruding upper battery contained embrasures, allowing two of the 9in RMLs on each beam to train fore and aft. They were also twin-screwed, the first large ironclads of the ‘Black Battlefleet’ to carry two engines rather than one. Rather than serving overseas, Vanguard remained in home waters until she was accidentally rammed and sunk by her sister ship Iron Duke in 1875.
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Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
November
November
1875
1880 Broken up 1906
D
23
Captain Cowper Coles, standing in front of one of the gun turrets of HMS Monarch. He was critical of her design, and as a result the Admiralty allowed Coles to produce another masted turret ship to his own specifications. He was drowned when this ship, the Captain, foundered off Cape Finisterre in the autumn of 1870.
OPPOSITE
HMS Captain had her turrets placed low in the ship to improve her stability. Unfortunately this also reduced her freeboard, a factor which may well have played a part in her loss in September 1870, just five months after she was first commissioned.
Turret ships
Throughout the 1860s naval architects, the Admiralty and even the British press all hotly debated the future of ironclad design. It was clear that the steady increase in both gun size and armour thickness meant that ships were by necessity going to carry fewer but heavier guns, while being protected by increasingly thick armoured belts. This led to the development of the central battery ironclad and attempts to increase the guns’ field of fire. Captain Cowper Coles, a naval officer and inventor, proposed a solution of mounting a pair of the largest guns inside a revolving turret. Reed argued that on a fully rigged warship the masts and rigging would severely restrict the turret’s field of fire.
While John Ericsson, designer of the USS Monitor, is often assumed to have invented the revolving gun turret, in fact Coles not only developed the idea independently, but also patented it before Ericsson did. The two designs were subtly different. While Ericsson’s turret revolved on a central spindle, Coles’ version was more mechanically practical, as it rotated using rollers. Coles aggressively lobbied the Admiralty, and so in 1865 a turret ship was ordered, based on plans drawn up by Admiralty designers, and supervised at a distance by Reed, who considered himself ambivalent about the project.
Monarch Class
Type masted turret ship (one in class)
Displacement 8,322 tons
Dimensions length 330ft (100.58m) between perpendiculars; beam 57ft 6in (17.53m); draught 24ft 3in (7.39m)
Propulsion single shaft, powered by a Humphreys & Tennant two cylinder horizontal return connecting rod steam engine and nine boilers, generating 7,842ihp
Maximum speed 14.9 knots
Coal bunkerage 600 tons
Armour belt: 7in iron, reducing to 4.5in at extremities, with 10–12in wood backing; bulkheads: 4–4.5in iron; turrets: 8–10in iron; conning tower: 8in iron
Armament four 12in RMLs in two twin turrets, three 7in RMLs
Complement 575
The result was the Monarch, a masted turret ship of 8,322 tons. Her two turrets were mounted on the upper deck, fore and aft of her funnel, and inside each were two 12in RMLs. The bulwark in front of the turrets flipped down to allow the guns to fire. Both turrets were protected by thick armour, while the loading areas below them were also shielded by an armoured box. This strange ship carried a full sailing rig, and a flying deck over the top of the turrets kept most of the rigging away from the turrets. The ship was difficult to handle, but she was well designed and seaworthy.
Coles was unimpressed. He was extremely critical of the Monarch ’s design, and even before she was laid down he began lobbying the Admiralty to build another turret ship to his own specifications. He was supported by
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Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate Monarch Chatham Dockyard June 1866 May 1868 June 1869 Broken up 1905
the press, and in late 1866 the Admiralty acquiesced. Coles’ ship was laid down in early 1867, and entered service three years later, just six months after Monarch was commissioned. Coles’ ship, the Captain, was also a masted turret ship, and at first glance looked similar to Monarch. Although marginally smaller in size and displacement, she was fully rigged and carried two twin turrets, each mounting 12in RMLs. There the similarities ended. While Monarch mounted her turrets on her main deck, Captain carried hers a deck lower, which meant the ship had a freeboard of just 6.5ft (2m).
Captain Class
Type masted turret ship (one in class)
Displacement 7,767 tons
Dimensions length 320ft (97.54m) between perpendiculars; beam 53ft 3in (16.23m); draught 24ft 10in (7.57m)
Propulsion
Two shafts, powered by two Lairds four-cylinder horizontal trunk steam engines and eight boilers, generating 5,400ihp
Maximum speed 15.2 knots
Coal bunkerage 600 tons
Armour belt: 8in iron, reducing to 4in at extremities, with 7in wood backing; bulkheads: 7in iron; turrets: 9–10in iron; conning tower: 7in iron
Armament four 12in RMLs in two twin turrets, two 7in RMLs
Complement 500
Ship Builder
Laid Down Launched
Completed Fate
Captain Lairds, Birkenhead January 1867 March 1869 January 1870 Foundered, September 1870
Once Captain entered service it was found she was top-heavy, and there were concerns about her stability. Just a few months later, in September 1870, Captain foundered during a gale in the Bay of Biscay. Cowper Coles was on board her when she sank in a tragedy that claimed 472 lives. This disaster forced the Admiralty to reconsider its policy of ironclad design. By then Reed had resigned following a series of heated clashes with Coles. However, he had already participated in the design of several small coastal defence
ABOVE
LEFT
HMS Monarch was designed with a full sailing rig, but in 1872, in the wake of the Captain disaster, she was given the barque-rig seen here to improve her stability under sail. She was known as a fast ship though, and when she first entered service she was the fastest ironclad in the fleet under steam.
ABOVE RIGHT
Unlike the ill-fated Captain, the gun turrets of HMS Monarch were mounted on her main deck, well above the waterline. This proved to be a better design. She was the first British turret ship, and also the first warship in the fleet, to carry 12in guns. She was generally regarded as a successful ship, and was a fast vessel, both under steam or sail.
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The design of HMS Devastation was a major departure from all previous ships. She had a very low freeboard fore and aft, with a higher freeboard amidships. This view shows her from the stern, where the upper deck was recessed immediately behind the turret, giving her a strangely bulbous appearance.
monitors, which were viewed as highly successful. He also produced plans for a mastless turret ship, whose guns would have an almost all-round field of fire.
In early 1869, Reed submitted these plans to the Admiralty. His design was based on those he produced for his small coastal defence monitor Cerberus, only developed on a much larger scale. The lack of masts and spars led to widespread criticism, but Reed stood his ground. As ironclads became heavier their performance under sail was becoming poorer, while engines had become far more reliable. Reed’s design was eventually approved, and the two ships of the Devastation class were laid down in July and November 1869. Unfortunately, Reed’s feud with Cole led to his resignation the following year, so he was unable to see his project through to completion. His successor Nathaniel Barnaby reviewed the plans while the ships were being built and made some modifications, raising their freeboard by a deck, apart from at the bow and stern. Devastation was completed in early 1873, and Thunderer followed four years later.
Devastation Class
Type turret ship (two in class)
Displacement 9,330 tons
Dimensions length 285ft (86.87m) between perpendiculars, 307ft (93.57m) overall; beam 62ft 3in (18.97m); draught 26ft 8in (8.03m)
Propulsion
Two shafts, powered by two Penn horizontal trunk steam engines (Thunderer Humphreys & Tennant horizontal direct acting steam engines) and eight boilers, generating 6,640ihp (Thunderer 6,270ihp)
Maximum speed Devastation 13.8 knots Thunderer 13.4 knots
Coal bunkerage Devastation 1,800 tons Thunderer 1,600 tons
Armour belt: 12in iron, reducing to 8.5in at extremities, with 16–18in wood backing; bulkheads: 5–6in iron; turrets: 10–14in iron; breastwork: 10–12in iron; conning tower: 6–9in iron; deck: 2–3in iron
Armament four 12in RMLs in two twin turrets
Complement 358
Ship Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Devastation Portsmouth Dockyard November
HMS CAPTAIN IN THE BAY OF BISCAY, 1870
Following the success of the turreted ironclad during the American Civil War (1861–65), the Admiralty came under increasing pressure to develop turret ships of its own. One of the greatest advocates of the turreted ironclad was Captain Cowper Coles, whose criticism of the design of the Monarch led to the Admiralty acceding to public pressure and inviting him to design his own vessel. The result was the Captain, which superficially resembled the Monarch, but which differed from it in several key areas. The most obvious difference was the placement of her two twin-gun turrets on a deck lower than in the earlier ironclad. She was also twin-screwed, giving her an impressive top speed of more than 15 knots, but her sailing qualities were less favourable. Many felt the ship carried too much weight, which in turn reduced her already low freeboard more than Coles had anticipated. Just eight months after she entered service she encountered a gale in the Bay of Biscay and began heeling alarmingly. Shortly after midnight on 7 September she foundered, taking Coles and 472 men down with her. There were only 18 survivors. One of those lost was a midshipman, the son of the First Lord of the Admiralty, who had ordered the boy to sail in her to show the Admiralty’s confidence in Coles’ design.
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1869 July 1871 April 1873 Broken up 1908 Thunderer Portsmouth Dockyard June 1869 March 1872 May 1877 Broken up 1909
E
The interior of the armoured conning tower of the mastless turret ship HMS Thunderer In theory the ship could be manoeuvred and fought from within this small protected box, but visibility was limited, and during manoeuvres most captains preferred to control their ship from the open bridge.
Commissioning of the ‘Black Battlefleet’, 1860–75
1861 October Warrior
December Defence
1862 July Black Prince
September Resistance
1863 April Royal Oak
1864 February Hector
April Prince Consort
November Achilles
1865 July Caledonia Ocean
1866 April Bellerophon
June Lord Clyde
October Zealous
1867 March Royal Alfred June Agincourt
August Lord Warden
1868 September Valiant
October Northumberland
November Hercules
December Minotaur
1869 June Monarch
1870 January Captain Repulse
September Audacious Vanguard
October Invincible
1871 January Iron Duke
October Sultan
1872 June Swiftsure
1873 April Triumph Devastation
After the Captain disaster these new and unusual-looking ships were viewed with suspicion, but they proved stable, reliable and completely seaworthy. The real success of their design, though, was that Devastation and Thunderer marked the start of a new era in naval construction. Gone were the masts and sails that had remained as a relic of the old sailing navy. Gone too were the mounting of guns in batteries. While Monarch and Captain had shown the way, it was Devastation that truly established the gun turret as the ideal mount for naval ordnance. This new ship was no longer even a proper ironclad. With her 12in armoured belt and powerful armament of 12in guns, she was a new breed of warship entirely – the world’s first battleship.
TACTICAL REQUIREMENTS
The advent of steam did little to alter tactical doctrine in the Royal Navy. Warships were expected to use their sails to conserve coal, but in action they would use their engines. Sails were furled and topmasts were struck down to reduce vulnerability to enemy fire. Freedom from the wind meant the ship could effectively steam where it wanted, or it might do were it not for the constraints of operating as part of a squadron. Unlike the small ironclads built by both sides during the American Civil War, these British ironclads were seagoing vessels, mounting powerful broadside batteries. They were designed to fight in fleet actions rather than to act alone. In other words, despite the move from sail to steam, early British ironclads were built to fight in much the same way as their sail-powered forebears.
Beyond that, the Admiralty had given little thought to the way its new ironclads would be fought. These ships were among the fastest in the world under steam, but unless they were pursuing a fleeing enemy this was considered less important than the ability to form and maintain a line of battle. These were still broadside-armed ships, so
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forming a battle-line made sense. That said, it was a time of near-constant technological change, and the Admiralty was unable to incorporate adequate tactical guidelines in its specifications to ship designers. Instead, it was forced to react to new technological developments or to reports of actions from overseas. So, during this period Britain’s warships never fulfilled a properly developed tactical role.
For example, at the battle of Lissa (1866) the AustroHungarian fleet defeated its Italian opponents by using ramming tactics to overcome their enemy’s advantage in firepower. Subsequently, the Admiralty deemed it expedient to give all future ironclads a ramming capability: the three ships of the Minotaur class, completed after Lissa, were all given a substantial ram. The Audacious class also had effective rams – so much so that when Iron Duke accidentally rammed Vanguard in 1875, she inflicted a mortal wound on her sister ship. Although by then the increasing power of naval ordnance had effectively made ramming tactics almost too dangerous to contemplate, British ironclads continued to be fitted with them, just in case.
The switch from a broadside to a central battery design from 1866 on did little to alter tactical doctrine. After all, these changes reflected the way guns were arranged and protected, not the way the ships were expected to fight. Even the idea of mounting guns in a central battery ironclad so that they could provide end-on fire merely replicated the capability of bow or stern chasers. Warrior already had that capability, but she was still primarily a broadside warship, and would fight in the same manner as one of Nelson’s ships-of-the-line. Even masted turret ships failed to change this tactical arrangement – the superstructure and rigging prevented the gun turrets from firing on targets much beyond the beam of the ship.
This all changed with the arrival of Devastation. Here at last was a British ironclad capable of firing her guns ahead and astern, as well as to either beam. The revolutionary tactical ramifications of this were still not apparent when she was commissioned in 1873. So throughout the 15 years covered by this book, the British plan – such as it was – was simply to form the ‘Black Battlefleet’ into a battle-line and to pound at the enemy, broadside to broadside. Even then, the business of signalling within a fleet had barely advanced since the Napoleonic Wars, so more complicated manoeuvres were generally seen as beyond the ability of a fleet commander to control. These ships were faster, vastly more powerful and mechanically more capable than anything which had come before them. They should have been capable of dictating the pace of a sea battle. However, the way the Royal Navy planned to fight them would still have been perfectly understood by Nelson. Change would be foisted on the service only by the launch of yet more turretless ships and the continuing trends towards fewer but larger guns.
HMS Vanguard, sinking in the Irish Sea off Dublin, after being accidentally rammed in fog by her sister ship Iron Duke in September 1875. The armoured bow of the Iron Duke sliced through the outer hull below the Vanguard’s armoured belt, flooding her boiler and engine rooms. She took almost 90 minutes to sink, allowing sufficient time for the entire crew to abandon ship.
The design of the Devastation class of turret ships was truly revolutionary, but when the ships entered service they were viewed with suspicion by public and sailors alike. Devastation, here, soon won the approval of her crew, as she proved both stable and reliable.
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