Royal First

The battleship that set the standard, HMS Devastation. This ship was built in 1871 and demonstrated the features that would become common to the pre-dreadnought battleship.

She was originally equipped with 13.5inch muzzle loading cannon - two per turret, one aft and one forward. She was built entirely for steam and had nothing but a signal mast. Even so, she had a range of over 5000 miles - pretty good for the day.

Devastation gave over 30 years service - subsequently equipped with 10 inch breech loaders.

The Devastation was widely admired and even more widely copied by the world's navies.

Don