Its Your History

HMS Warrior was built in London, and was launched into the then frozen River Thames on December 29th, 1860 during the coldest winter for 50 years, six tugs were required to haul her into the river. Warrior, the first iron-hulled, armour-plated warship, was built for the Royal Navy in response to the French ironclad warship La Gloirefirst, which was launched a year earlier. When she was completed in October 1861, Warrior was by far the largest, fastest, most heavily-armed and most heavily-armoured warship the world had ever seen. She was almost twice the size of La Gloire and thoroughly outclassed the French ship in speed, armour, and gunnery. The image to the right is the entry for Warrior in the Royal Navy List of 1890, she was 9,210 tons, and had 5,270 horsepower. The references to the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1801, and victory over the French and Spanish in 1805 relate to the previous HMS Warrior launched on October 18th, 1781, at Portsmouth. The ironclad Warrior of 1860 never saw battle during her years of service. The Navy list of 1890 is available as a downloadable CD-ROM, and can be found in the Navy Lists section, along with other Navy Lists dating back to 1805.

As the world's first iron-hulled armoured warship, Warrior was recognised as one of the Royal Navy's most historically important warships, and was restored. Her restoration took place in the Coal Dock at Hartlepool, began in 1979 and took eight years. Her decks, interior compartments, engines, masts, rigging, funnels, woodwork and fittings were restored or recreated, and a new figurehead was carved using photographs of the original as a guide. Warrior is now a museum ship berthed at Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard.