Page:The Development of Navies During the Last Half-Century.djvu/74

 change could not be resisted. Designs were invited from various quarters, but the plan prepared by the Chief Constructor of the Navy, Mr Isaac Watts, in conjunction with the eminent naval architect Mr Scott Russell, was decided upon. This produced the 'Warrior,' ordered in 1859, and completed in 1861. She embodied some remarkable characteristics. In the first place, her hull was of iron, and considering what had taken place ten years previously, the boldness of this step can be appreciated. But as any project of adding iron to the lofty sides of a line-of-battle ship was impracticable, the necessity of limiting the principal armament to one deck was apparent. To compensate for such a reduction, the single deck should carry a number of the most powerful guns then in use, with greater space between them than had usually been accorded, so as to reduce the injury that the entrance of a shell would inflict. Though the sides might be impregnable, the port holes were so many weak points which must not be lost sight of. In 'La Gloire' they were very close together, and hence much of the value of the armour was lost. Such considerations involved a length of ship which previous experience with the 'Mersey' and 'Orlando' had shown to be impossible in vessels built of wood and carrying powerful machinery. Another point urged was that iron would be less subject to fire than wood, so the former material was adopted. The result was an iron frigate 382 ft. long at the water-line, which was increased to 420 ft. over all when the old graceful form of bow was added. All former associations could not be given up