HMS Warrior in Portsmouth Hapshire

As you arrive at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the stunning sleek, black lines of Britain's first iron-hulled, armoured battleship, take your breath away.

The pride of Queen Victoria, Warrior revolutionised warship construction. Powered by steam and sail, she was the largest and fastest warship of her day. Her most radical innovation was her citadel - an armoured box housing her guns.

Warrior began active service most inauspiciously. She froze to the slipway when she was launched on December 29th 1860 during the coldest winter for 50 years. Frozen snow covered the dockyard and Thames braziers blazed down the ship's sides but when Sir John Pakington, First Lord of the Admiralty, came to do the honours, she refused to budge.