HMS Inflexible provides a contemporary benchmark because naval observers commonly measure unfamiliar ships against the best-known construction of a leading fleet. Inflexible still relied on enormous sixteen-inch muzzle-loading rifles for its main battery, showing that muzzle-loading remained credible even at the top of the battle fleet. Her secondary battery changed from twenty-pounder breech-loaders to four-inch guns and later quick-firing 4.7-inch weapons as requirements evolved. Machine guns offered close defence against the emerging torpedo-boat threat, while fourteen-inch torpedo tubes added another experimental offensive system. Comus's mixed armament belonged to the same fleet-wide transition.
Notable Point · 38:29-41:26
HMS Inflexible as a benchmark for changing weapons
The contemporary battleship HMS Inflexible provides a Royal Navy benchmark for the same unsettled shift from muzzle-loaders to breech-loaders, quick-firing guns and torpedoes.