Upcoming lecture: HMS Warrior

Date and time: 18.00 Thursday 6 November 2025

Venue: The Regency Hotel, Queens Promenade, Douglas

HMS Warrior, for a time in the early 1860s was the world’s fastest, most powerful warship. She represented a significant technological leap forward by the Admiralty and was the first iron-hulled warship in the world. Warrior was launched, initially to combat a perceived French invasion threat but became highly influential in Union naval strategy in the United States Civil War.

This presentation considers how HMS Warrior evolved as French and British naval construction learnt from the advent of explosive shells and screw propulsion. It discusses the diplomatic and political tensions between Britain and France and Britain and the United States. It shows that HMS Warrior was an effective deterrent in that neither Britain and France nor Britain and the United States went to war in the 1860s, when circumstances could have suggested otherwise. In summary the presentation discusses a little-known aspect of the US Civil War, namely that HMS Warrior played a significant, if passive role.