Continuing on from there, I went to see HMS Warrior and M32, also in the historic dockyard.
HMS Warrior has got to be my favourite warship ever. She was sailing at the very end of the age of sail. She is absolutely huge and has both a steam engine and square rig sails. 19 kn under engine and 18 kn under sail. She also has early breach loaded guns on part of her aft gun deck. She fired modern looking explosive shells from these guns. Basically she was the biggest baddest thing on the ocean at the time. She was so powerful she never fired a shot in anger. All the bad guys ran away whenever she tried to engage them, and that took some serious running! She spent her service touring potential hot spots and reminding people that the british navy could kick their ass anytime they felt like it. Here's some pics.
The last ship I saw at the historic dockyard was M32. She is a monitor class from WWI her job was to get in close to the shore or up rivers and bring the fight in close to the enemy. She served in Galipalee during WWI. She is painted in her Dazzle camoflage, designed to break up her outline and make her harder for submarines to spot. Here's some pics:
