In November 1859, the French warship La Gloire was launched. She was
the world's first seagoing ironclad--a warship built from wood, but
whose hull was clad in a protective layer of iron plate. Britain, not to
be outdone, launched her own ironclad the following year--HMS
*Warrior--*which, when she entered service, became the most powerful
warship in the world.
Just like the Dreadnought half a century later, this ship changed the
nature of naval warfare forever, and sparked a frantic arms race. The
elegant but powerful Warrior embodied the technological advances of
the early Victorian era, and the spirit of this new age of steam, iron,
and firepower.
Fully illustrated with detailed cutaway artwork, this book covers the
British ironclad from its inception and emergence in 1860, to 1875, a
watershed year which saw the building of a new generation of
recognizably modern turreted battleships.