Breastwork Monitors: HMS Cerberus, Magdala (1967-1924) Alongside turret ironclads, some in the British admiralty saw in turreted, steam-only and low-freeboard ironclads, a vision of future. The type developed in the US by John Ericson 1861 started with the namesake ship, USS Monitor. Derided in the US by some as the “cheesebox on a raft” was … Read more
RN Turret Ironclad (1869-1905) We continue our exploration of British Royal Navy Turret Ironclads of the Victorian Era with HMS Monarch, a recommendation by the committee appointed in 1865 and groundbreaking, but also compromised vessel. Not only she was the first sea-going turret ironclad completed, before Coles’s HMS Captain, but also the first to sport … Read more
Broadside Ironclads: 1862-65: HMS Scorpion, Wivern. HMS Scorpion and Wivern were two small turret ironclad originally ordered by the Confederate States Navy in 1862, seized in 1863 by the British to prevent delivery as they were violating the Foreign Enlistment Act since the Union was still considered friendly to Great Britain. The Scorpion class were … Read more
Turret Ironclad Frigate in service 1866-1898. HMS Prince Albert was designed and built as a shallow-draught coast-defence ship, and first purpose-built for turrets, of the Coles design. She was named after Prince Albert, late husband of Queen Victoria, which died young and left her devastated. Along her wish, HMS Prince Albert remained on the active … Read more
Ironclad Corvette, in service until 1876. HMS Favorite, 7th of the name, was an ironclad screw corvette launched in 1864, one of the three small wooden warships with HMS Research and HMS Enterprise selected by Sir Edward Reed for conversion to ironclads, as part of the French-British ironclad race of the early 1860s. In her … Read more
Ironclad Sloop (1862-1864), service until 1885. HMS Enterprise (7th of the name) was an armoured sloop launched in 1864 at Deptford Dockyard, laid down originally as a wooden screw sloop of the Camelion class, like her near sister and box battery USS Research. She was designed by Edward Reed as a central battery ironclad to … Read more
Box Battery Experimental Ironclad (1861-1864), service until 1879. HMS Research was a small ironclad converted from a wooden-hulled sloop, intended as a prototype on which new types of armament and armour could be tested to see if such conversion, rather than a frigate or ship-of-the line, was viable, notably for conversions in wartime but also … Read more
Broadside Ironclad (1859-1867), service until 1885. HMS Royal Alfred was a central-battery ironclad frigate laid down in 1859 as a 90-gun 2 decker, like the Prince Consort class (Prince Consort, Caledonia, Ocean) but also converted like Royal Oak, Repulse, Zealous… She was converted as an ironclad while on the stocks and completed in 1864 for … Read more
broadside ironclad (1860-1865): HMS Prince Consort, Caledonia, Ocean, Royal Oak. The Prince Consort class were wooden-hulled ironclad types, converted from 91-guns two-deckers of the Bulwark class, the HMS Royal Oak on one hand and the HMS Prince Consort, HMS Ocean, and HMS Caledonia. HMS Royal Oak became Britain’s 5th ironclad completed. Prince Consort, Ocean, and … Read more
Royal Navy Broadside Ironclads: HMS Warrior, HMS Black Prince 1859–1862, service until 1902 The start of the ironclad age, before the name “battleship” and “capital ship” took over, started in 1860 and lasted until steam-only steel ships became the norm. For more than a decade, the flourishing of ideas and technologies was unprecedented, at a … Read more
