this week we have the Royal Navy's first armoured ocean going battleships HMS Warrior and HMS Black Prince. the French were first with an ocean going armoured vessel La Gloire and the British ships were their answer to the French. the two Royal Navy ships were far superior to the La Gloire in size, armament and speed. Warrior was commissioned in 1861 and Black Prince in 1862. these ships were 380 ft in length and displaced 9,210t. they were originally armed with 26 68lb. muzzle loaders and 10 7" Armstrong rifled breech loading guns. powered by Penn single expansion trunk engines making somewhat more than 5,000ihp HMS Warrior was always slightly the faster of the two. Warrior under sail alone could make 13kts. under engine power alone 14.5 and using both sail and engine power could easily make over 16. she once made 17.5 under engine and sail, an extremely fast speed for her day. neither ship was ever used in battle but both had long and useful lives going from active units of the fleet to home guardship duties and then relegated to being used for various schooling and storage duties. Black Prince was scrapped in 1923. Warrior being the luckier of the two is still with us. she was put up for sale in 1924 but scrap metal prices being what they were was not sold. her last duty was as a floating fuel oil dock. finally being recognized for the important historical ship she was HMS Warrior has been fully restored to her original condition and is now an exhibit at Portsmouth Dockyard along with HMS Victory and other Royal Navy artifacts. the first picture shows both Warrior and Black Prince anchored offshore. next is a picture of Warrior as she is today. third is a schematic of Warrior showing her interior arrangements. fourth is a painting of Warrior at sea and last one of HMS Black Prince with her yards manned in some sort of celebration.
armoured ship Thursday on Friday
Friday, June 10, 2011
this week we have the Royal Navy's first armoured ocean going battleships HMS Warrior and HMS Black Prince. the French were first with an ocean going armoured vessel La Gloire and the British ships were their answer to the French. the two Royal Navy ships were far superior to the La Gloire in size, armament and speed. Warrior was commissioned in 1861 and Black Prince in 1862. these ships were 380 ft in length and displaced 9,210t. they were originally armed with 26 68lb. muzzle loaders and 10 7" Armstrong rifled breech loading guns. powered by Penn single expansion trunk engines making somewhat more than 5,000ihp HMS Warrior was always slightly the faster of the two. Warrior under sail alone could make 13kts. under engine power alone 14.5 and using both sail and engine power could easily make over 16. she once made 17.5 under engine and sail, an extremely fast speed for her day. neither ship was ever used in battle but both had long and useful lives going from active units of the fleet to home guardship duties and then relegated to being used for various schooling and storage duties. Black Prince was scrapped in 1923. Warrior being the luckier of the two is still with us. she was put up for sale in 1924 but scrap metal prices being what they were was not sold. her last duty was as a floating fuel oil dock. finally being recognized for the important historical ship she was HMS Warrior has been fully restored to her original condition and is now an exhibit at Portsmouth Dockyard along with HMS Victory and other Royal Navy artifacts. the first picture shows both Warrior and Black Prince anchored offshore. next is a picture of Warrior as she is today. third is a schematic of Warrior showing her interior arrangements. fourth is a painting of Warrior at sea and last one of HMS Black Prince with her yards manned in some sort of celebration.
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