Ironclad HMS Warrior

With the construction of the French ironclad La Gloire, the British Royal Navy also recognized the benefits and advantages of iron armored ships, letting two Navy ships of the new Warrior class set sail for their navy, which also established the era of armored ships in England.

Launching and design:

The HMS Warrior was built at the Thames Ironworks shipyard in Blackwall. There, the ship ran on December 29, 1860 from the stack. With its 11.43cm thick armor, the ship was almost insensitive to all the bullets used at the time. Further, the hull was divided into 92 watertight compartments to minimize the sinking by punctured bullet holes and below each machine and ammunition rooms was a raised double bottom. Only the steering gear was completely unprotected.

HMS Warrior

The main engine of the ship was a two-cylinder steam engine with 5,267 hp supplied by a total of 10 boilers. Since the coal supply of the ship was only 850 tons, it could operate under optimal conditions with the steam engine only in a radius of 2,100 nautical miles. To support the steam engine so a complete rigging was integrated as a full ship with 4,500 square meters sail area.

The armament consisted of 4x20,3cm smooth tube muzzleloader, 28 x 17,8cm muzzleloader and 4x20 pounder breech loaders.

History of HMS Warrior:

Like the French La Gloire, the first British ironclad revealed the beginning of a new warship development, but the Warrior and its sister ship the Black Prince were already technically outdated within the 10 years. Thus, the Warrior was assigned to the reserve fleet on April 1, 1875 and on May 31, 1883, after the removal of the armament and upper masts, excluded from the maritime service.

HMS Warrior

The end of the Warrior:

Until 1902, the hull of the ship served as a deposit, then it served two years of the cruiser flotilla as a depot. In 1904, the ship was renamed Warrior Vernon III and brought to the torpedo training school Vernon, where it supplied other ships with steam and electricity.

In the mid-20s, the ship was supposed to be sold, but since the scrap prices were very low at that time, no buyer was scrapped. 1929 was the next renaming in Oil Fuel Hulk C77 and lay for the next 50 years in the naval dockyard Pembroke in Wales, where it served as accommodation and floating tank.

On September 3, 1979, the restoration of the ship began, which was completed in 1984. Subsequently, the ship was towed to Portsmouth, where it still serves as a museum ship and was re-christened in HMS Warrior, with the addition of 1860.

HMS Warrior as a museum ship in Portsmouth

Ship data:

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