guns than had ever been made
before could now be constructed without difficulty, and naval men justly
began to feel uncomfortable about the safety of our "wooden walls."

In 1859, the French led the way by constructing the _Gloire_, which was
covered with thick iron plates, and our Admiralty had to face the task
of constructing ironclad ships, and of armouring existing ships, pending
the construction of others. One thing was very plain; the existing
high-sided ships could not carry the weight of even the thinnest armour
that would be of any service.

In 1861, the _Warrior_ was produced in answer to the French _Gloire_.
She was a frigate-built vessel doing 14 knots, and carried thirty-two
heavy guns, 200 feet only of her length of 310 feet were armoured with
iron plates 4 and a half inches thick--which was proof against any guns
then existing--as it was thought that her seaworthiness would be
impaired if the great weight of the armour were extended to the two
ends. But to protect the vessel from raking shot--that is, shots fired
at her when bow on, or stern on, to the enemy--armoured partitions, or
"bulkheads", as they are called, were provided.

In 1861, ships of the type of the _Minotaur_ were built, armoured from
stem to stern. These were considered monster ships at the time, as they
had a displacement of, 10,627 tons and were 400 feet in length. Their
speed was 14 or 15 knots, attained by engines of 6,700 horse-power. The
bow was constructed on the ram principle, projecting some distance under
the water, and her sides were covered with iron plates 5 inches thick,
tapering off in thickness, however, as they approached the bow.
Further, she was divided into many compartments below water, with
watertight doors, so that if pierced, either in action or by grounding,
she might still be kept afloat. She was fitted with five masts, made
partly of iron, while her armament consisted of thirty-four 12-ton and
18-ton guns. Her cost was, 478,000 pounds but she and her sister ships
the _Agincourt_ and _Northumberland_ did not come up to their
expectations, being found unwieldy on account of their great length,
while in a few years it was found that their armour was not thick enough
to withstand the more powerful guns that were being manufactured.

The next type of design was that of the _Hercules_, the prototype of the
"citadel" design. This ship was protected from end to end by much
thicker armour than had hitherto be