HMS Warrior was the world’s first ocean going, iron-hulled, armoured warship – the largest, fastest and most powerful of the time. Launched on 29 December 1860, Warrior rendered all other warships obsolete overnight. She never fired a shot in anger, simply because she was too powerful for any other ship to think of challenging her. Indeed, her deterrent value contributed to Britain’s Security.
Forgotten for a century, restored to her original condition, and now moored in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, HMS Warrior is the only surviving embodiment of the most revolutionary changes to take place in the long and distinguished history of the Royal Navy.*
The Upper Deck
The Bridge
The Gun deck
Warriors main armament consisted of 26 68-pounder guns, loaded from the muzzle (front), capable of firing shot or shells nearly a mile and a half (2.3 kilometers). They were reliable and effective, being a larger version of a tried-and-trusted design. Not so reliable were the ten new Armstrong 110-pounder breech loaders, fitted as a trial. These had rifled barrels for greater accuracy and fired cone-headed shot or shell almost double the distance of the ‘older’ guns. However, the trial was unsuccessful because the new guns had a nasty tendency to overheat and blow out the breechblock or just jam up.*
*From HMS Warrior 1860 guidebook
By crikey, it looks a beauty. So Clean !
She has been lovingly restored and cared for
This is a wonderful presentation Cherie… i like your framing in all of the pictures and the lifeboat most of all…
thank your for the history about this great warrior ship….peter:)
Thank you Peter I am glad you like it
The ship has a fascinating history far more than I have briefly commented on in my post
Quite difficult to comprehend that a ship looking like this never fired a shot in anger, although I suppose the latter half of the nineteenth century is the final fling of this kind of warship before the design changes forever.
This ship was the beginning of the change…
I’ve seen HMS Warrior from the sea (the Gosport ferry passes close by) but I’ve yet to visit her. Now I can see it through your eyes.
I hope I did it justice
Fabulous deck layouts, fabulous arrangement of all the bits and pieces, the golden wooden masts. The golden mast is what I am having on my little craft.
The mast have been made to replicate the original wooden ones but these are actually hollow metal so they are less heavy for the aging vessel.
Are you getting lots of ideas for your boat?
Did you also see their Captain’s Cabin?
I did