If you could preserve any ironclad or pre-dreadnought, which would you choose?
Short answerChoices include HMS Achilles, unusual experimental ships, and HMS Renown, with the discussion emphasizing design evolution and the diplomatic weight of pre-dreadnought fleets.
NotesHMS Achilles is prized for combining the lines of a clipper with the new visual language of an ironclad. Other panel choices deliberately preserve awkward or unsuccessful ships because a physical failure can teach design tradeoffs more vividly than plans alone. The 1895 HMS Renown is chosen as an attractive proto-battlecruiser, with the Duncan class also considered. The Duncans’ four 12-inch guns, twelve 6-inch guns, torpedoes, and extensive armour made them conspicuous instruments of state power as well as fighting ships. Their presence behind a strongly worded diplomatic message illustrates how Victorian naval diplomacy joined negotiation to a credible capacity for coercion.