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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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Photo # NH 71191:  British ironclad frigate Warrior off Plymouth, England, probably during the later 1860s

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the BRITISH NAVY --

HMS Warrior (Ironclad Frigate, 1861-1979)

HMS Warrior, a 9137-ton ironclad frigate, was built at Blackwall, England. The first of the Royal Navy's many ironclad capital ships, she entered service in October 1861, somewhat over a year after the completion of the French battleship Gloire opened an international competition in armored warships that was to continue for over eight decades. Warrior was assigned to the Channel Fleet, in which she spent nearly all of her seagoing service guarding Great Britain and the eastern Atlantic against potential maritime threats. The routine of this duty was punctuated by a collision with HMS Royal Oak on 14 August 1868 and special service towing a large floating drydock to Bermuda in mid-1869.

Warrior had her gun battery upgraded during a refit in 1864-67 and received other modifications in 1872-75. After the latter dockyard period, she was in reserve service until 1883, making summer cruises in waters from Gibraltar to the Baltic and receiving occasional temporary assignments with the Channel Fleet. From 1883 until about 1900, the ageing ship, now reclassified as an armored cruiser, was laid up, though available for recall to combatant duties.

Beginning in 1901, Warrior was employed as a storage and depot ship for torpedo vessels at Portsmouth and was attached to the torpedo school, HMS Vernon, from 1904 until 1923. She was renamed Vernon III during most of this time, but regained the name Warrior at the end. After attempts to sell her for scrap produced no purchasers, in 1927-29 the ship was converted to an oil facility mooring hulk at Pembroke. She again lost her name during World War II, but continued her modest employment into the 1970s. By this time, her value as a unique historic relic was widely recognized, and in 1979 she was transferred to the Maritime Trust for preservation as a museum ship. After extensive restoration work, Warrior was placed on exhibit at Portsmouth, England, where she remains today.

This page features all our views of the British ironclad frigate Warrior (1861-1979).

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 71191

HMS Warrior
(British Ironclad Frigate, 1861-1979)


Off Plymouth, England, probably during the later 1860s.
She appears to still have her original short bowsprit, which was replaced in 1872-75.

Copied from the photographic album "Types of Ships in the British Navy", prepared in 1877.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 54KB; 740 x 505 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52524

HMS Warrior
(British Ironclad Frigate, 1861-1979)

In drydock at Portsmouth, toward the end of her 1872-75 refit.
Note the newly-fitted longer bowsprit, with her "warrior" figurehead below.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 101KB; 535 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 61407

HMS Warrior
(British Ironclad Frigate, 1861-1979)

Line engraving, published in "Harper's Weekly", 1866.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 133KB; 700 x 625 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 59569

"Revolution in Naval Warfare. -- Shot-Proof Iron Steamships."


Article published in "Harper's Weekly", 9 February 1861. It features a discussion (by a British author) of the new ironclads Gloire (French) and Warrior (British), with line engravings of both ships (in the same scale) and a view of Warrior's launching at Blackwall, England, on 29 December 1860.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 292KB; 910 x 1225 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 12 July 2001