Warrior - the first and last 'ironclad'

摘要

Technically the term 'ironclad' refers to a wooden hulled vessel clad with iron plates as a defence against the increasing fire-power of naval guns in the early to mid 19th century. The 'ironclad' became both tactically necessary and technically feasible as a result of developments in shipbuilding during the first half of the 19th century. According to traditional philosophy, an 'ironclad' had three characteristics; a metal skinned wooden hull, steam propulsion, and guns capable of firing explosive shells. Each of these three developments in naval design had been introduced separately in the decade before the first true 'ironclads' were built. But it was the 'ironclads' which brought all this together.rnThe first steam powered warship was France's Le Napoleon of 1850. Throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries most countries had relied on two types of warship, the 'ship of the line' (or battleship), and the smaller frigate. The introduction of steam power, from around 1830 onwards, started to change the format of warships.