HMS Warrior: 5 things you didn't know
The ironclad that never fired a shot in anger, then spent about fifty years as a floating oil jetty.
HMS Warrior (1860) was one of the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warships, yet she is widely said never to have fired a shot in anger. From 1929 she served about fifty years as a floating oil jetty at Pembroke Dock, refuelling around 5,000 ships, per Wikipedia.
HMS Warrior never fired a shot in anger, and after her naval career she spent about fifty years as a floating oil jetty. From 1929 she served at Pembroke Dock in Wales, refuelling around 5,000 ships, according to Wikipedia. Here are five things worth knowing about the Portsmouth ironclad.
A floating oil jetty
The 1929 to about 1979 span and the 5,000-ship figure come from Wikipedia alone. We can confirm one part from a second source: the Royal Museums Greenwich catalogue lists her hulk, numbered C77, as an oil fuel pontoon at Llanion in 1968. A pioneering warship ended up as a fuelling point for other ships.
First of her kind
Warrior and her sister ship Black Prince were the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warships, with a 4.5-inch (114 mm) wrought-iron armour belt, says Wikipedia. Sources conflict on how thick her teak backing was, so we have not given a figure.
What she cost
Wikipedia gives the cost as £377,292, almost twice what a contemporary wooden ship of the line cost, and another site repeats the same figure. Not every source agrees: a forum post gives £357,291, and a paper cites a £190,225 contract excluding machinery. Treat the headline number as the commonly quoted one rather than the last word.
Sails and steam
She carried both. Wikipedia says her sail area was 48,400 square feet and her engine produced 5,772 indicated horsepower. She could reach 13 knots under sail alone, and 14.08 knots on trials in 1868. These numbers all come from the one Wikipedia article, so they are worth checking if you plan to quote them.
Never fought
Warrior is widely described as having never fired a shot in anger. A Historical Marker Database entry says she covered about 90,000 sea miles without meeting an enemy ship, and that figure comes from the marker alone.
How to read these numbers
Several of Warrior's famous figures rest on a single page. The exact fifty-year span, the 5,000 ships, the sail area, the engine power and the speeds all come from Wikipedia. The cost varies between sources. Only the oil pontoon in 1968 and the idea that she never fought are backed up elsewhere. That does not make the numbers wrong. It means you should say "according to Wikipedia" if you repeat them, as we have.
Her place in the story
Warrior and Black Prince are the two ships Wikipedia names as the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warships, and the pair give their name to the Warrior-class ironclads. Whatever the exact cost, the point of the ship was plain: a hull of iron with an armour belt of wrought iron, driven by sail or steam, built to outclass the wooden fleets around her.
Visiting
HMS Warrior is berthed at Portsmouth. We have not checked current opening times or ticket prices, so see the attraction's own website first.
Facts we left out
Some popular claims we could not verify: that her 26-ton propeller was raised by 600 men, her "Black Battleship" nickname and the thickness of her teak backing. We prefer an honest gap to a good story we cannot support.
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