British Ironclads 1860-75: HMS Warrior and the Royal Navy's 'Black Battlefleet'

In November 1859, the French warship La Gloire was launched. She was the world's first seagoing ironclad--a warship built from wood, but whose hull was clad in a protective layer of iron plate. Britain, not to be outdone, launched her own ironclad the following year--HMS Warrior--which, when she entered service, became the most powerful warship in the world.

Just like the Dreadnought half a century later, this ship changed the nature of naval warfare forever, and sparked a frantic arms race...