Ironclads.

Ironclads. A term first applied to wooden ships of war strengthened by a more or less complete covering of iron armour-plates. Partial iron defences for war-galleys seem to have been in use in the middle ages; the floating-batteries used at the siege of Gibraltar in 1782 had bomb-proof roofs and sides, strengthened by leather and bars of iron. Systematic defences of this kind were advocated by numerous writers in France, America, and England, early in the 19th century. But the first regular use of iron armour on the sides of ships was when, during the Crimean war, the French made and sent to the Black Sea floating-batteries with armour 4$\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ in. thick. In 1858 the French had four iron-plated line-of-battle ships building. The first British sea-going ironclad was the Warrior (1860), with 4$\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ in. armour for the upper deck to the water-line; but, as iron was the material of which the ship was built, 'ironclad' became rather a misnomer. The term is still employed loosely for all armoured ships, turret-ships, barbette-ships, &c., even if the hull and framework are of iron and the armour (which in the Inflexible is from 16 to 24 in. thick) is faced with steel (as in the Edinburgh, Camperdown, Warspite, &c.). See NAVY, and SHIPBUILDING.