The lost museum ships of the ironclad era

Which nineteenth-century warships would have been especially valuable to preserve?

HMS Thunderer and USS New Ironsides could illuminate early battleship development, gunnery change, and ocean-going ironclad design.

More nineteenth-century ships should have survived, especially vessels capable of showing the emergence of the battleship and the consequences of technical failures. HMS Thunderer and USS New Ironsides would be valuable representatives of the era. Thunderer could interpret both early battleship development and the gun explosion that helped turn the Royal Navy away from muzzle-loaders. New Ironsides would show an American ocean-going ironclad whose design still reflected coastal-war requirements. Their absence narrows what museums can show about the rapid transition from wooden fleets to armoured steam warships.