Rotten masts and unavailable replacements ended Warrior's Clyde guardship service in 1883. Later paper classifications changed without corresponding alterations to the ship, and modernization was rejected after at least one new boiler had been installed. She left the effective list in 1900 and became a storage hulk for the HMS Vernon torpedo school. Low demand for scrap prevented a 1925 sale, while conversion into a mooring jetty and oil-fuel hulk gave her another half century of service. During the Second World War she supported coastal minesweepers and became Oil Fuel Hulk C77 in August 1942, freeing the Warrior name for a light aircraft carrier. Across her service at Llanion Cove, an estimate credits her with roughly 5,000 refuelings, although the source's wording leaves uncertain whether it counts visits or individual ships. Continued logistical use kept the hull available for eventual preservation.
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Hulk service and survival through reuse
Warrior survived obsolescence through successive practical roles as a guardship, torpedo-school storage hulk, mooring jetty, oil-fuel hulk, and minesweeper depot ship.