The ironclad transition demanded more than buying new ships: sailors had to learn how to operate, maintain, and repair an unfamiliar type of fleet. Dacres brought experience with ironclads and screw-propelled vessels into the Second Naval Lord and First Naval Lord posts. Experimental squadrons helped the service determine training, maintenance, and damage-control practices, including whether damaged iron hulls should be patched with iron or wood. Dacres treated integration as an organizational problem encompassing people and procedures as well as technology. His nonpartisan advocacy illustrates the Navy's shift from relying on party connections toward making a broad professional case to every political faction and the public.
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Sydney Dacres integrates the ironclad fleet
Dacres used politically neutral professional authority to integrate ironclads, their training, maintenance, and damage-control needs into the Royal Navy.