HMS Warrior and the battleships before the dreadnoughts

David Hobbs's photographs place HMS Warrior among the iron-and-steam predecessors of later battleships. The earlier HMS Dreadnought took seven years to build and was completed in 1879, while HMS Sultan retained both steam and sail. An earlier HMS Iron Duke appears as a China Station flagship built at Pembroke Dock. Warrior's iron hull and single deck of 40 guns explain the awkward overlap between her frigate rating and her later place in battleship history. Her launch on 29 December 1860 required six tugs and an hour of work to pull her from a frozen slipway. Ten boilers working at only 20 psi put her machinery in the context of early steam technology. Warrior and Victory survive as predecessors of the later British battleships, although including Victory depends on how broadly the term is used.