An Introduction to My Top 10 Warships (No Tribal, Battle, Daring or Town Classes allowed)

The personal ranking weighs national fit, period context, capability, appearance, and whether the ship was actually built.

Number ten is HMS Meteor, an M-class destroyer whose large twin 4.7-inch mountings gave the class a distinctive wartime profile.

Number nine uses USS Spearfish to explain the submarine's wartime sea-denial role and the cramped endurance demanded by Pacific patrols.

Number eight praises HMS Dragon's Type 45 air-defence design while questioning capabilities left fitted for but not with.

Number seven covers HMS Conqueror's Falklands War sinking of General Belgrano and the case for preserving the submarine.

Number six recalls HMS Folkestone as a small but determined sloop whose stand at Tsingtao and wartime escort service merit wider recognition.

Number five presents HMS Warrior as the moment British ironclad design came of age and reasserted the Royal Navy's global lead.

Number four admires an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer while questioning whether the US Navy relies too heavily on one surface-combatant type.

Number three is USS Enterprise, a pioneering nuclear carrier whose scale and presence give her more character than her successors in this ranking.

Number two looks beyond Trafalgar to HMS Victory's long operational career and place as a Royal Navy and national symbol.

Number one traces HMS Unicorn's influence from forward aviation support ship to a foundation for British light-fleet-carrier design.