Why HMS Shannon failed as an armoured cruiser

Shannon looked conventional enough, rather like a smaller HMS Warrior, yet her many features did not form a coherent fighting ship. Her armoured citadel, exposed guns, sail rig, steam machinery, and ramming concept each answered a different concern without producing a balanced whole. Her failure belonged to a longer Royal Navy struggle to translate rapid technological change and inherited tactical ideas into workable designs. Opening the video here establishes why a visually plausible ship could still be unsuccessful by almost every operational measure.