Battleships: Past and Present #4; HMS Warrior Quiz

Answer: All of these

Though France's La Gloire was the first iron and steam battleship built for oceanic service and was truly revolutionary in every respect, HMS Warrior, built to counter her, did her one better in every category less than one year later. England took a huge gamble in designing and building Warrior so much larger, but was betting on France's industrial capacity being unable to keep the pace.

They were right. France was never again a serious world naval power.

Answer: The British author, Charles Dickens

This quote from Charles Dickens, was just one of many quotes regarding the HMS Warrior including this one from the French: "Should this ship meet our fleet, it will be as a black snake among rabbits!" and one contemporary quote: "The Warrior could have sailed through every battle fleet in the world, and sunk them."

Answer: True

Anyone can have a bad day or make a bad prediction. Even the man who is credited with being, at least in part, the brainchild of the Warrior Class of battleships. After making the statement above that was soon proven to be inaccurate, he went on to fully support the future he so poorly predicted. He died a Baronet in 1876, after seeing a complete revolution in battleship construction.

Answer: She was built around an iron plated timber framed box

HMS Warrior was built around a very long gun deck framed in heavy timbers and plated with iron. This iron and wood "citadel" was then mounted to the hull's iron plating making a composite armored hull over three feet thick where it counted most, and virtually impervious to all artillery of the day. Most "iron" ships of the day were wooden sailing ships "clad" in iron plating.

Some even had supplemental steam power, but nothing on earth was even close to the leap forward taken by the British with HMS Warrior.

Answer: She has huge paddle wheels on each side of the hull

HMS Warrior did indeed have a dual propulsion system of steam and sail but seldom used both at the same time. Her Horizontal Trunk Steam Engine driving a screw propeller with limited coal capacity, was intended to be used to out-maneuver an enemy during an engagement and in tight quarters without relying entirely on the wind.

Her huge sail plan was still considered her primary mode of propulsion from point A to point B. She was "logged" at over 17 knots on one occasion while under sail. Paddle-wheels were proven to be a huge liability on warships during the American Civil War, due to their vulnerability to enemy fire and HMS Warrior, as a result, does not have them.

Answer: All of these

Even though the 110 pounders were a bit of a disappointment, their accuracy, range and rapid fire characteristics added to the 68 pounders all mounted on a single, stable gun deck and made HMS Warrior more than a match for anything else afloat in 1861. Most other ships of the line were limited to 38 to 42 pounders in multiple, stacked, gun decks, so Warrior could "stand off" and pound her opponents into submission although she never actually had to do so.

Answer: She launched the battleship arms race that lasted through WWII

Although all four statements are generally true, the correct answer to the question is that "she launched the battleship arms race" and that is what led to her very short career and thus limited her success and long term value to the Royal Navy. She never fired a shot in anger during what has become known as the Pax Britannia and her technological, tactical, and strategic influence on the naval balance of power was unquestioned, but very brief.

Answer: She was an oil dock

In August of 1979, Oil Fuel Hulk C77, which the Warrior had become in 1929, was disconnected from its moorings in Milford Haven, Wales and began the 800 mile, eight year long journey and refurbishment into the fully restored battleship she is today.

Answer: She froze to the way and would not slide

On December 29, 1860, during one of the coldest winters in recorded in English history, HMS Warrior actually froze to the ways and would not budge. The dockyard workers built fires under the iron hull and finally melted enough of the ice that she could be pulled free and into the river by steam tugs. No one was injured.

Answer: HMS Victory and the Mary Rose

HMS Victory and the Mary Rose are the other ships on display at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The Mary Rose was built in 1510-11, lost in 1545, and was Henry VIII's favorite ship. She is being reassembled as much as possible from recovered timber. Vasa is a 17th Century Swedish warship recovered from the ocean floor and being reassembled in Stockholm. I hope you enjoyed "Warrior", the Battleship Mikasa is next in the series.