British turret ships from Prince Albert to Captain

During the American Civil War, the Royal Navy kept unusually large squadrons at Halifax and Bermuda but sent no armored warships across the Atlantic, while British private yards laid down warships for the Confederacy and the royal dockyards continued building ironclads. News from Hampton Roads accelerated European debate between monitors and armored frigates, although Britain had already ordered the coastal turret ship Prince Albert. Prince Albert's four Cowper Coles turrets turned on rollers below deck, unlike John Ericsson's centrally pivoted turret, and each mounted a single 9-inch gun. The converted Royal Sovereign carried four turrets with heavier 10.5-inch ordnance, while the ocean-going Monarch mounted four 12-inch guns in two centreline turrets. HMS Captain then combined low freeboard, rig, and heavy turret armament in a design that capsized off Cape Finisterre in 1870. The sequence compares coastal and ocean-going solutions while showing the danger of forcing several competing requirements into one ship.