HMS Warrior was ordered by the Royal Navy in response to France's launch in 1859 of the 36-gun frigate La Gloire, the world's first ocean-going ironclad warship. Unable to compete quantitatively with the Royal Navy, the French Navy had instead opted to compete qualitatively through the introduction of new technologies, such as breech-loading rifled guns firing explosive shells. Faced with these innovations by its longtime French adversary, as well as the increasing number of new technologies coming out of the Industrial Revolution, the Royal Navy decided to one up the French with the construction of Warrior. This decision was aided by the pressure applied by Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, who were alarmed at French military spending during a tour of the new French arsenal at Cherbourg in August 1858. With the British government allocating £252,000 (equivalent to £630 million in 2018) for the construction of two new ironclad warships for the Royal Navy, construction could begin.
Whereas La Gloire was a traditional wooden, steam-powered frigate with 11.4 centimetre plates of wrought iron bolted to her wooden hull and was designed only for operations in local French waters, HMS Warrior would be built as a true iron-hulled ironclad warship for service throughout Britain's far-flung global empire. While Warrior was designed by the Surveyor of the Navy and his staff, none of the Royal Dockyards were skilled or equipped to construct iron ships at that time. As such, the contract for Warrior was placed with the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Blackwall, London on 11 May 1859. Given the unprecedented size of Warrior, the shipyard was forced to dredge the adjacent river and construct a massive new slipway and new factories to produce the required iron components for the ship. Although the Royal Navy originally dictated an 11-month construction schedule so that Warrior would be ready for sea by July 1860, this target soon proved overly optimistic and Warrior was not actually launched by Thames Ironworks until 29 December 1860. After an additional eight months of fitting out work, including installation of masts, boilers, engines, rigging, timber decks, and armour plates, Warrior commissioned into the Royal Navy on 1 August 1861 under Captain Arthur Cochrane. When launched, Warrior was the largest, fastest, and most powerful warship in the world and, in the six weeks between her commissioning and her maiden voyage to Portsmouth, thousands of curious spectators flocked to see the impressive specimen of Victorian engineering.
During her first commission, from 1 August 1861 to 22 November 1864, Warrior first undertook speed and seakeeping trials and, following minor modifications to rectify defects, joined the Royal Navy's Channel Squadron in mid-1862. Operating out of Plymouth or Portsmouth and serving alongside other ironclads, including sister ship HMS Black Prince, Warrior patrolled UK waters and completed cruises to Ireland, Portugal, Gibraltar, and Madeira. In 1863, she escorted the vessel carrying Princess Alexandra of Denmark to Gravesend for her marriage to the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. Warrior ended her first commission with a circumnavigation cruise of Britain in company with the rest of the Channel Squadron, visiting 11 ports in 12 weeks and hosting 300,000 enthusiastic sightseers.
During the three years between the end of her first commission and the start of her second on 25 July 1867, Warrior was refitted and repaired. This work included the replacement of her original, and now outdated, armament with 28 7-inch and four 8-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns which were both more powerful and more accurate than the 68- and 110-pounders. Warrior, now under the command of Captain Henry Boys, rejoined the Channel Squadron and its schedule of cruises between Portsmouth or Plymouth and Portugal, Gibraltar, Madeira, and Ireland. In June 1869, the ship was tasked, in company with HMS Black Prince, with towing a floating dry dock over 6,400 kilometres across the Atlantic to Bermuda. By late 1871, Warrior had been outclassed by quickly evolving naval ship design and technology, and the Admiralty determined that she was no longer fit for front line service; in September 1871, Warrior decommissioned for the second time and was sent for a major refit.
Although no longer suitable for wartime service, Warrior was recommissioned into the Royal Navy on 1 April 1875 to be used in a coast guard and reserve role. With a smaller crew of 320 and now based out of Portland, Warrior patrolled the coastline between Bournemouth and the Scilly Isles in order to interdict and deter smugglers. Largely moored at anchor in harbour, Warrior did undertake quarterly cruises for gunnery practice and joined with other coast guard ships for an annual summer fleet cruise and exercises. The years that followed saw the same routine of cruises and exercises, with Warrior transferring first to Greenock in western Scotland in 1881 and then to Portsmouth in 1883 for a refit. It was at this time that an inspection revealed Warrior's foremast and mainmast to be rotten. Between 1883 and 1893, Warrior was moored in Portsmouth harbour in a deteriorating state. Although the Admiralty initially decided in 1894 to replace her boilers and engines in order to render Warrior fit to return to service, this idea was dropped as uneconomical and work ceased.
Avoiding the scrapyard, Warrior had her masts and engines removed and her upper deck roofed over and was reassigned on 16 July 1902 to serve as a static depot ship for torpedo boat destroyers at Portsmouth. In this role, she provided accommodation and workshop space and acted as the administrative headquarters for a torpedo boat destroyer flotilla. In 1904, Warrior was renamed Vernon III and used as a floating storeroom, power station, workshop, and classroom for HMS Vernon, the Portsmouth-based torpedo training school. As the needs of the torpedo training school outgrew Vernon III and the school's other floating hulks, the ship was decommissioned in 1924. In March 1929, she once again escaped the scrapyard when she was towed to Pembroke Dock in Wales and used as a floating fuelling pontoon next to a shoreside oil depot until 1979.
With Warrior no longer required as a fuelling pontoon, in August 1979 the Royal Navy towed the hulk to Hartlepool on the east coast for restoration by the Maritime Trust and with the backing of the Manifold Trust established by Sir John Smith (1923-2007), a noted British conservationist, banker, and Conservative politician. After eight years and £7 million, Warrior emerged from her restoration appearing as she had during her first commission in 1861-1864. Towed from Hartlepool, Warrior entered Portsmouth Harbour on 16 June 1987, 104 years after her first arrival, joining the collection of historic vessels at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Since then, conservation work aboard Warrior has continued, with projects to replace upper deck planking (2001-2004) and bulwarks (2016-2018), as well as periods in dry dock (1994, 2004) to ensure the watertight integrity of the hull. Today, HMS Warrior's distinctive black iron hull and buff-coloured funnels and masts are prominent landmarks in Portsmouth Harbour, with the ship moored next to the historic dockyard's gate, through which hundreds of thousands of visitors enter each year.
HMS Warrior - Specifications:
Length: 127.5 metres (418 feet)
Beam: 17.75 metres (58 feet)
Draught: 8.2 metres (26 feet 10 inches)
Displacement: 8,355 tonnes (9,210 tons)
Propulsion: Penn double-acting twin cylinder, single expansion horizontal trunk engine, producing 4,100 shaft horsepower
Fuel: 774 tonnes (853 tons) of coal, consumed at 7.9 tonnes per hour
Sail: 3,488 square metres (37,546 square feet) on three masts and a bowsprit
Speed: 14.4 knots (27.7 km/h) under steam; 17.2 knots (31.9 km/h) under steam and sail combined
Armour: 11.4 centimetres (4.5 inch) wrought iron plate backed by 46 centimetres (18 inches) of teak
Armament (1861-1864): 26 x 68-pounder smooth bore muzzle-loading guns; 10 x 110-pounder Armstrong rifled breech-loading guns; 4 x 40-pounder Armstrong rifled breech-loading guns
Complement: 17 officers and 700 ratings
Photos taken 12-14 October 2019 unless otherwise noted
Below: The handout and deck plan provided to visitors before boarding HMS Warrior.
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| HMS Warrior, as seen from the area known as The Hard, adjacent to Portsmouth Harbour and near the entrance to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Although outfitted with full sailing rig, Warrior's primary means of propulsion was her coal-fired boilers and 1,400 horsepower single expansion trunk engine; the masts and sails were designed to be used should the steam engine fail or to save on the use of expensive coal by exploiting favourable wind conditions. When cruising under sail, Warrior's propeller could be raised out of the water into a special well in the stern in order to eliminate drag. Ongoing conservation work on this historic vessel is evident by the scaffolding covered in white plastic wrap at the ship's stern. |
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| A starboard bow view of HMS Warrior, now permanently moored in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The world's first iron-hulled ironclad warship was protected by 202 wrought iron armour plates of 11.4 centimetres (4.5 inch) thickness, each weighing 4.8 tons, and backed by 45.7 centimeters (18 inches) of teak planking. The armour plates were installed only over the central 64.9 metres (213 feet) of Warrior's hull to protect her main battery of guns, the magazines, critical stores, and the vital engineering spaces, as Admiralty designers had determined that installing armour plating at the bow and stern would make the ship pitch too heavily to accurately aim and fire the guns. To permit Warrior to ram enemy vessels if required, the ship's bow was reinforced through the use of a 17-ton wrought iron stem post measuring 9.1 metres (30 feet) high. |
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| Mounted on the stem, below the bowsprit, is HMS Warrior's 3.7 metre (12 foot) high figurehead, the third to be carried by the ship since she was first launched in 1860. |
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| A side view of Warrior's intricately-carved figurehead. The ship's first figurehead was lost on the night of 14 August 1868 when Warrior collided with the armoured frigate HMS Royal Oak. The second figurehead was destroyed in the 1960s. The third, and current, figurehead was carved between 1981 and 1983 using photographs of the original figurehead and was installed on Warrior on 6 February 1985. |
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| A starboard quarter view of HMS Warrior, as seen from the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard harbour tour boat. Warrior's stern is temporarily encased in plastic-clad scaffolding to support conservation work being undertaken in October 2019. |
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| Looking forward along Warrior's Upper Deck from the entry gangway. Unlike the hull, the timber Upper Deck was not armoured. Canvas covers protected hammocks when not in use by the crew. Although each of the ship's three 26.3 metre (86 foot) tall, 1.1 metre (42 inch) diameter lower masts was originally made of wood, during the 1979-1987 restoration, replacements were fashioned from welded steel tube, with ladders running inside to provide access to the tops (platforms). The three new masts and the bowsprit were installed aboard Warrior between September 1984 and February 1985. |
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| An Armstrong 110-pounder rifled, breech-loading bow chaser gun, mounted just aft of the bowsprit and used to fire at targets directly ahead of the ship. Weighing 5 tons, the gun and its carriage could be shifted to multiple angles using the brass 'racers' seen in the photo. The gun was fired through ports in the low wooden walls (bulwarks) ringing the Upper Deck. An identical gun was positioned at Warrior's stern, giving the ship the ability to also fire at targets astern. |
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| HMS Warrior spanned the era between the sailing ship and the steam-powered ship. As such, the Upper Deck features icons of both eras: tall masts and yardarms with full sailing rig as well as funnels and engine cowlings. The funnels were telescopic and could be raised when the ship was sailing under engine power or lowered when the sails were used to exploit the wind and thereby avoid the unnecessary use of expensive coal. |
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| One of four 40-pounder breech-loading guns on wooden carriages used as secondary armament on the Upper Deck of Warrior. |
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| Looking aft along the port side Upper Deck of HMS Warrior from the forward bridge. Two launches, the largest of the ship's ten boats, are visible, held in crutches aft of the funnel. Three smaller boats were nested like Russian dolls in the interior of one of the launches and the remaining five boats were carried on davits at the stern. These small boats were used to transport men and supplies between ship and shore, and were not used as lifeboats. |
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| Together, Warrior's masts were capable of deploying 3,488 square metres (37,546 square feet) of canvas sail, enough to cover 13 tennis courts. In the foreground of the photo, elevated and spanning the width of the Upper Deck is the aft bridge, from where the Captain and his senior officers commanded Warrior, issuing orders to the helmsmen manning the ship's wheel on the deck below or via megaphone to men working aloft in the rigging; voice pipes and engine room telegraphs also allowed orders to be issued to other parts of the ship. The rounded white structure under the bridge is the armoured citadel, designed to provide a degree of protection to deck officers when the ship was in action. |
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| Seen during a previous visit on 23 August 2009, is the stern of HMS Warrior, as seen from the aft bridge. (This area was inaccessible in October 2019 due to ongoing conservation work.) The ship's brass-ornamented wheels are located below the bridge on the Upper Deck. In the era before hydraulically-assisted steering, it took 4-10 men to steer the ship using these wheels and the ropes connecting the wheels to the rudder. These exposed wheels were used during periods of fine weather when the ship was not at action stations. During inclement weather or during battle, the helmsmen would have used an alternate, covered steering position located on the Main Deck or, as a backup, a third, reserve steering position located even lower in the ship on the Lower Deck. |
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| A closer view of Warrior's steering position on 23 August 2009. The two binnacles mounted forward of the wheels contained compasses used for navigation. The wheel on the right is inscribed with 'Princess is much pleased', a compliment paid to Warrior via signal flag by Princess Alexandra of Denmark in March 1863 as the frigate escorted her aboard the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert II from Denmark to Britain to be married to Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales. |
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| The Cable Deck, located at the forward end of the Gun Deck that runs the length of the ship immediately below the Upper Deck. The Cable Deck is dominated by the enormous black iron riding bitts (bollards) that are securely seated deep in Warrior's hull and to which the ship's heavy anchor cables are attached. The cables run forward though the hull to the two anchors mounted on the bow, each weighing 5.6 tons. It took over 100 men to manually haul up these enormous anchors using linked capstans, with the anchor cable being fed down into cable lockers located amidships to maintain the ship's balance. |
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| In addition to housing the riding bitts and anchor cables, the Cable Deck also sported two of Warrior's 110-pounder breech-loading rifled guns and served as home to Warrior's senior petty officers. One of the 110-pounder guns and two of the mess tables for petty officers is seen here. |
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| The Gun Deck, housing the majority of Warrior's guns. Of the ship's 40 guns, 26 were of the tried and tested 68-pounder smooth bore, muzzle-loading variety seen here. The remainder consisted of the 110-pounder Armstrong rifled, breech-loading gun (10) and the smaller 40-pounder Armstrong rifled breech-loading gun (4). The majority of the guns were housed in an armoured citadel comprising the middle 64.9 metres (213 feet) of the hull. This citadel, the fighting heart of HMS Warrior, was protected by 11.4 centimeter (4.5 inch) thick armour plates backed by 45.7 centimeters (18 inches) of teak, extending from 1.8 metres (6 feet) beneath the waterline to 6.4 metres (21 feet) above it; additional protection was provided by thick transverse armoured bulkheads at the fore and aft ends of the citadel, protected by iron blast doors. |
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| A sign detailing, on the left, the specific responsibilities of the 19 men who worked each 68-pounder smooth bore muzzle-loading gun aboard HMS Warrior. The right side details the precise sequence of actions for loading, priming, firing, and cleaning the gun. |
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| The galley, located in the centre of the Gun Deck, was used to prepare all meals aboard Warrior, for both officers and men. It is dominated by the large iron stove which was used to cook meals for the crew of over 700, with an emphasis on hearty, healthy food to fuel the strenuous activity of the sailors whose work involved moving heavy guns, hauling anchor cables, and climbing the ship's masts to set the sails. The sailors were divided into messes of 18 men, with each mess member taking it in turn to serve as 'mess cook', responsible for collecting food from the storeroom, preparing it, delivering it to the galley to be boiled on the stove, and bringing the cooked meals back to his messmates. |
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| Another section of the galley, containing work surfaces for preparing food. HMS Warrior carried enough provisions to feed the crew for a three month deployment; these stores included 30 tons of ship's biscuit, 19 tons each of beef and pork, 8 tons of dried peas, and tons of flour, raisins, butter, and chocolate. Additionally, live sheep were housed in pens on the Upper Deck and chickens in coops in the ship's boats to provide fresh meat for the early days of a voyage. Once fresh provisions were consumed, the crew existed on the less appetising preserved items stored in barrels and crates. |
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| Although the general appearance of the Gun Deck on Warrior did not outwardly differ much from those found on warships of a hundred years earlier, Warrior's steam engine and series of vents meant that warm air from the boiler room could be distributed throughout the ship's living spaces in winter to improve habitability; similarly, in the summer, cool air from the Upper Deck could be directed down into the Gun Deck. |
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| A capstan used to turn Warrior's engine a quarter turn every 30 minutes when the ship was docked, cruising under sail, or when the engine was not otherwise being used. This capstan is connected to a toothed wheel on the engine that turns the crankshaft, thereby preventing the engine from seizing up. |
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| Warrior's protected helm position on the Gun Deck, used during inclement weather or when the ship was in action. Steering orders were relayed to this position via voice pipe from the Upper Deck above. Like the wheels on the Upper Deck, these wheels required 4-10 men to work the ship's rudder. The experimental binnacle in front of the wheels contained magnets to correct the deviation in compass readings caused by the magnetic field generated by Warrior's iron hull. |
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| A typical mess for the crew of one of HMS Warrior's 68-pounder guns. Within the 4.5 metre (15 foot) space between guns, the 18 men ate, slept, and relaxed, taking their meals at the long table and benches that were folded away when the ship went into action, and sleeping in hammocks slung from overhead hooks. The 68-pounder gun could fire various types of ammunition, including the common shell filled with gunpowder and fitted with a fuze; case shot containing 90 iron balls; grape shot containing 15 iron balls; and solid shot cannonballs. |
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| Warrior's three most senior officers lived on the Half Deck, located aft of the Gun Deck at the rear of the ship. Seen here is the Captain's night cabin, where he slept in this hanging bunk, situated adjacent to his larger day cabin. HMS Warrior had ten captains over her service life, the longest being the first, Captain Arthur Cochrane. |
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| The Captain's day cabin, where he worked, dined, and entertained. A large overhead skylight allowed in plenty of natural light. The day cabin and adjacent night cabin spanned the width of the ship at the aft end. The Captain would usually invite one of the officers or midshipmen to dine with him. While traditional warships featured a span of windows overlooking the stern, this was not possible aboard Warrior as the tiller flat, housing the propeller well and rudder mechanism, occupied the very rear of the ship. The Captain did have a private toilet, however, which was located in the tiller flat, behind the white panelled wall spanning the rear of the day cabin. |
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| The Half Deck cabin occupied by the ship's Master, responsible for navigation. The cabins of both the Master and the Commander, the ship's second-in-command, were equipped with a 68-pounder gun which gun crews would man if the ship were to go into action. |
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| The Half Deck office of the Paymaster, who was responsible for receiving, holding, and dispensing pay for the sailors and maintaining financial records concerning expenditures on supplies. |
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| One of the ladders leading down to the Lower Deck section containing the Wardroom and the cabins of the ship's 14 junior officers. |
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| The Wardroom, located on the Lower Deck below the Captain's cabin. The Commander, Master, and the other officers dined at this table, while the lieutenants, the paymaster, the ship's surgeon, the chief engineers, and the chaplain also slept in adjacent cabins on the port and starboard sides of the Wardroom. By tradition, the Captain was not permitted to enter the Wardroom except if invited by the other officers, in order to permit the officers a place to relax and unwind without being under scrutiny. Although officers received the same food as the ratings, they supplemented their diet with extra food and wine paid for by the joint wardroom mess fund to which they contributed a portion of their pay. |
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| The row of small officer's cabins lining the sides of the Wardroom. Seen here from left to right are the cabins of the 5th Lieutenant, the 3rd Lieutenant, and the Paymaster. |
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The Chief Engineer's cabin.
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The 4th Lieutenant's cabin.
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The Paymaster's cabin.
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The 3rd Lieutenant's cabin.
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| The Gunroom, located forward of the Wardroom on the Lower Deck. It was in the Gunroom that midshipmen and naval cadets ate, relaxed, and participated in lessons on seamanship as part of their training. The cabin of the Assistant Surgeon and the Clerk's office are located along the far wall. |
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| The Gunroom mess, providing space for midshipmen and naval cadets to relax, dine, read, and complete lessons in subjects such as math, gunnery, and navigation. These officers in training, usually aged 12 to 14, slept in hammocks slung in the Chest Room, one deck below. |
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| The Gunroom pantry, where meals from the galley were plated up prior to being served to the junior officers. Crockery and glassware is stored in the cabinets and racks lining the walls. |
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| The reserve steering position, located on Lower Deck. The ship's rudder could be worked from this position if the principal steering positions on the Upper Deck or Gun Deck were inoperable or inaccessible due to damage. This steering position would only have been rigged with ropes if required. Voice pipes would have been used to convey orders from the bridge on the Upper Deck. |
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| The Issuing Room, where sailors received their allowance of smaller quantities of food, such as tea, chocolate, sugar, and mustard; staples like meat, bread, and vegetables were issued to the men on the Upper Deck. |
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| A closer look at the inside of the Issuing Room, jammed with hoppers, racks, scales, and record books to ensure that each sailor was issued with the precise amount of victuals and that these transactions were properly recorded. |
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| Hanging outside the Issuing Room is a chart showing the type and quantity of food to be provided to each member of the crew, and on what frequency. For example, amongst other items, sailors were issued 1.25 pounds of biscuits or soft bread on a daily basis, 3 ounces of oatmeal on a weekly basis, and a quarter of a pound of split peas on alternating days. |
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| The sailmaker's workshop, with supplies of various types of canvas and cloth for making sails,as well as handkerchiefs, stockings, and shirts. |
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| The Marines' flat, where Warrior's complement of 125 Royal Marines stowed their kit bags. This space also housed the chief engineers' office and the room containing the ship's chronometers (clocks) and band instruments. |
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| The cable locker flat is located directly over the cable locker, one deck below, in which Warrior's 121 tons of anchor chain were stored. Lining this space are racks holding 68- and 110-pound shells for the guns on the Gun Deck. The ship's diving suit was also stored in this compartment when not being used by either of Warrior's two divers. |
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| The rum store, which held four tons of rum under lock and key. Each sailor aged 18 and above was issued a daily ration of grog, comprising one-eighth of a pint of rum mixed with one-quarter of a pint of water. The large wooden grog tub in the centre of the photo is adorned with a toast, 'The Queen, God Bless Her', in brass lettering. It was in this tub that the rum and water would be mixed before being ladled into tin buckets carried by the cooks of each mess, who then took the grog back to their messmates on the Gun Deck at noon daily. Sailors who chose to forgo the rum ration were able to draw additional quantities of tea, sugar, and chocolate. |
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| The seamen's flat, where the ship's 344 seamen stowed their kit bags and hats in long racks. This space is dominated by the funnel casing, and shells for the guns are also stored along the edges at deck level. |
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| One of the long racks in the seamen's flat holding sailors' kit bags, each marked with his name and number. |
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| Washing machines for the sailors to launder their uniforms. HMS Warrior was the first ship to ever have washing machines installed aboard. Captain Cochrane had a 'drying closet' installed aboard the ship in 1862 for the purposes of drying wet clothing and hammocks. |
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| The seamen's bath room, with three steel tubs for bathing. Although rudimentary, the inclusion of such bathing facilities was a marked improvement for hygiene aboard Royal Navy warships. Use of the bathroom was mandatory for stokers, engineers, and boy seamen, while other ratings could use them at their own discretion. |
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The cell flat, the ship's brig, contains two cells for punishing sailors found guilty of minor crimes or to hold men guilty of more serious offences until they could be offloaded to a jail ashore. Because every man aboard had a specific duty and was integral to Warrior's proper functioning, disciplinary infractions were usually punished by removing a sailor's good conduct badge or imposing a monetary fine deducted from the sailor's pay rather than imprisonment.
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| A shot of one of HMS Warrior's boiler rooms. The ship's ten wrought iron boilers were divided between a forward boiler room with four boilers and an aft boiler room with six boilers. Each boiler held 1.7 tons of water heated by four furnaces, accessed through the hinged square doors seen in the photo. Bunkers holding 853 tons of coal lined the port and starboard sides of the ship, behind the boilers. The coal was loaded into carts by men called trimmers and dumped in front of each furnace in the boiler rooms, to be shovelled into the furnaces by the ship's stokers. One stoker serviced four furnaces, which resulted in almost a ton of coal being shovelled by each man per hour in temperatures that reached 54 degrees Celsius (129 degrees Fahrenheit). When steaming at her maximum speed of 14.4 knots (26.7 km/h), the furnaces consumed nearly nine tons of coal an hour. |
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| A look inside one of the furnaces used to burn coal to heat water to generate steam to power Warrior's engine. In addition to feeding coal into the furnaces, the stokers also had to scrape out the ash that was a byproduct of burning the coal. The coal ash was shovelled into metal buckets and hauled up to the Upper Deck where it was dumped into the sea. |
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| Aft of the boiler rooms is Warrior's engine room, housing the double-acting twin cylinder, single-expansion horizontal trunk engine manufactured by John Penn and Sons of Greenwich. The engine generated 4,100 shaft horsepower. While cooler than the boiler rooms, temperatures in the engine room still averaged 29 degrees Celsius (84 degrees Fahrenheit). Because of these high temperatures in the boiler and engine rooms, candles were prone to melting; a such, illumination was provided at first by a new, but highly explosive, gas lighting system which was eventually replaced by oil lamps. |
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| Speed orders were transmitted electrically from the ship's bridge to this engine room telegraphs, one of the marine technological innovations to come out of the Industrial Revolution. Warrior was, however, also equipped with more traditional voice pipes as a low-tech back-up should the telegraph fail. |
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| A close-up view of the the reproduction single-expansion horizontal trunk steam engine installed on the restored HMS Warrior. The pistons of the engine are 2.85 metres (9 feet 4 inches) in diameter and, at full speed, turned the engine's crankshaft at 55 revolutions per minute. With tallow (rendered beef or mutton fat) being used for all lubrication on engine components, the engine room featured a most unpleasant odour. |
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| During sea trials in late 1861, Warrior's engine was tested to confirm the ship's maximum speed: during six runs over a measured mile off Portsmouth, Warrior achieved an average speed of 14.4 knots (26.66 km/h), beating the record set by HMS Mersey, up until then the Royal Navy's fastest ship at 13.29 knots (24.61 km/h). HMS Warrior's engineering department consisted of 76 stokers and trimmers and ten engineers under the supervision of two Chief Engineers. |
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| Located at the forward end of Warrior on the Lower Deck, but only accessible from the Cable Deck above, are cabins for the Carpenter, the Gunner, and the Boatswain. As Warrant Officers, these three non-commissioned officers were highly-respected specialists and were accorded the privilege of private cabins. |
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| The cabin used by the Boatswain, the most senior Petty Officer of the deck department and responsible for the care of the rigging, cordage, anchors, sails, boats, flags, and other stores. |
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| The carpenter's cabin, featuring a hanging wood and canvas bunk crafted by the carpenter for extra comfort. |
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| The Engineer's Mess, where the ship's engineers ate and relaxed when off duty. |
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| Warrior's sick berth, with four iron-framed cots to accommodate ill sailors. The sick berth was managed by the surgeon and his assistant. The original wooden operating table with a refurbished glass top is installed in the sick berth. Sick members of the crew could be treated with any of the 84 medicines stocked in a large pharmaceutical cabinet in the sick berth; however, many of these 'medicines', such as powdered antimony, were unknowingly highly toxic. Iron ships such as Warrior were very damp inside and most illnesses by sailors were respiratory in a nature, including common colds, rheumatism, ulcers, phlegm, and abscesses. An average of two to four crewmen died from accidents or illness in a typical year. |
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| A coal stove used by the sick berth attendant to prepare meals for ill sailors. The sick berth attendant also helped with preparing medicines, assisting during surgeries, and keeping records of those sailors treated. |
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| Standing on the jetty next to HMS Warrior upon exiting via the aft gangway. |
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| HMS Warrior seen against the backdrop of a gloomy, rainy day at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, 12 October 2019. |
