![]() She was a frighteningly powerful ship, a vessel that, together with her sister ship Black Prince, soon became the pride of the Royal navy. ![]() The Warrior was an iron hulled, armour plated battleship, powered by steam engines and armed with nearly twenty breach loading guns of various calibre. ![]() However, when the design was complete, it was clear that the Warrior was to be bigger, faster, more fully armoured and equipped with better guns than the French vessel, thus easily maintaining Britain's supremacy at sea. Rumours of the French design had been troubling the Admiralty for months, nobody daring to believe that Britain's sea power might be seriously challenged. She was built as a response to the French armoured warship La Gloire, which had been laid down a year before. She was launched on 29 December 1860, just over 18 months after building began. The Warrior was laid down at the private yards of CJ Mare, the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company as the business was called, as the Admiralty felt that no Royal Naval Dockyard had the skill or capacity to undertake such a job. Yet from 1929 through until August 1979 she was a common sight, nestled serenely against the wooded bank of the river, a reassuring landmark for anyone who sailed up the Cleddau from Milford or Pembroke Dock. ![]() These days, with the restored Warrior on public display at Portsmouth, the link between the most powerful ship in the world and Wales is barely remembered. HMS Warrior (All images kindly provided by HMS Warrior Preservation Trust) ![]()
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