|
Her armaments also caused delays. Instead of the usual smooth bore muzzle loaders, the Admiralty opted for the relatively untried rifled breech loading guns, designed by Tyneside engineer, William Armstrong. One innovation was the barrel's rifling cast. This made the shot fly true and spin so that the tapered point hit the target first. This heralded the introduction of the percussion fuse, which detonated the shell on impact. Another new feature was the loading method. The guns did not have to be drawn back into the ship; both projectile and charge were loaded through the breech screw and the chamber sealed with a block. 
|
Breech Loading Gun The guns were not as impressive at sea as first hoped. It proved impossible to create a gas tight seal between the block and breech, reducing the ability to fire rapidly and safely. Sizeable crowds gathered at the Thameside dockyard to watch 2000 workers labouring night and day on Warrior's vast hull, rising from under wooden scaffolding like a monolithic iron skyscraper. The press made much of the mounting price - at £400,000 it was double that of a standard wooden ship. She was ready for launching however, just four months after La Gloire's commission. |