Industrial limits kept wooden warships relevant

Navies could not simply order an all-iron fleet if shipyards, furnaces, money, and skilled labor could not produce it. Without enough armored hulls, they either accepted uncovered missions or built wooden ships that still supplied numbers and worldwide presence. Britain preserved maritime primacy partly because its yards and iron industry could build more armored ships than rival powers, preventing the technology shift from erasing the advantage created in the age of sail. Other navies instead formed a costly ironclad core and filled lower-tier duties with armored frigates, corvettes, and wooden vessels.