List of ironclads

The list of ironclads includes all steam-propelled warship (supplemented with sails in various cases) and protected by iron or steel armor plates that were built in the early part of the second half of the 19th century, between 1859 and the early 1890s. The list is arranged alphabetically by country. The initial dates of the boats correspond to the launch time, followed by a separation that indicates their retirement or final date.

The list includes ironclads of two different categories or roles, oceanic and coastal (the latter may be floating batterys, monitors and coastal defence ships). The various ironclads design such as the ram, broadside, central battery (or casemate), turret and barbette will be mentioned.[upper-alpha 1] Some of these ocean ironclads can be classified as armored frigates, armored corvettes, or others based on their displacement. Wooden hull ships that have been subsequently armored will also be considered in this list.

Although the introduction of the ironclad is clear-cut, the boundary between 'ironclad' and the later 'pre-dreadnought battleship' is less obvious, as the characteristics of the pre-dreadnought evolved from 1875 to 1895. For the sake of this article, a line is drawn around 1890, differing from country to country.

Austria-Hungary
Main article: List of ironclad warships of Austria-Hungary

Argentina
The Argentine Almirante Brown (1880) was the first ironclad built entirely of steel (until then it was made of iron).[1]
Monitors
Central battery ironclad
Coastal defence ships

Brazil
Central battery ironclads (or casemate)
The Brazilian Riachuelo (1883).
Monitors
  • Bahia (1865) - struck in 1894
  • Pará class
    • Pará (1867) - discarded in 1884
    • Rio Grande (1867) - scrapped in 1907
    • Alagoas (1867) - scrapped in 1900
    • Piauí (1868) - scrapped in 1893
    • Ceará (1868) - scrapped in 1884
    • Santa Catharina (1868) - sank in 1882 at her moorings due to the poor condition of her hull
  • Javari class
    • Javari (1874) - sunk in Battle on 22 November 1893, during Fleet Revolt of 1893–94
    • Solimões (1875) - it was wrecked in 1892 near the Cabo Polonio lighthouse in Uruguay
Ironclads turret ship

Chile
The Chilean Blanco Encalada (1875) was the first ironclad warship sunk by a self-propelled torpedo in 1891.[2]
Central battery armored frigates
Ironclad turret ship

China
Coastal defence ships
Ironclads turret ship
  • Dingyuan class
    • Dingyuan (1881) - sunk in 1895 in the Battle of Weihaiwei, during First Sino-Japanese War
    • Zhenyuan (1882) - captured by the Japanese in 1895 after the Battle of Weihaiwei, during First Sino-Japanese War

Denmark
The Danish Helgoland (1878).
Broadside armored frigates
Ironclad turret ship
Ironclad ram
  • Stærkodder (1864, as CSS Stonewall) - the Danish purchase in 1864 of this ship failed and ended up being sold to Japan in 1867 and renamed Kōtetsu*
Monitors
Casemate ironclad
  • Odin (1872) - retired in 1912
Barbette ironclads
  • Helgoland (1878) - retired in 1907
  • Tordenskjold (1880) - retired in 1908
  • Iver Hvitfeldt (1886) - retired in 1919

France
Main article: List of ironclad warships of France

Germany
Main articles: List of ironclad warships of Germany and List of coastal defense ships of Germany

Greece
The Greek Hydra (1889).
Central battery armored corvette
Broadside armored corvette
Barbette ironclads

Haiti
Casemate ironclad
  • Triumph (1861, ex British merchant Fingal and then USS Atlanta) - lost at sea in 1869 shortly after the purchase

Italy
Main article: List of ironclad warships of Italy

Japan
The Japanese Kōtetsu (1869) was a ironclad that played a decisive role in the Battle of Hakodate, during Boshin War.
Ironclad ram
  • Kōtetsu* (1864, as CSS Stonewall) - acquired from the United States in 1869 and retired in 1888
Armoured corvettes
  • Ryūjō (1869) - retired in 1906
  • Kongō class
    • Kongō (1877) - retired in 1909
    • Hiei (1877) - retired in 1911
Central battery ironclad
  • Fusō (1877) - sold for scrap in 1909
Ironclad turret ship
  • Chin'en (1882, ex Chinese ship Zhenyuan) - captured in 1895 during First Sino-Japanese War and retired in 1911
Coastal defence ship
  • Heien (1890, ex Chinese ship Pingyuan) - captured in 1895 during First Sino-Japanese War and sank by adverse weather causes during Russo-Japanese War

Netherlands
The Dutch Koning der Nederlanden (1874) was the largest ship that served in the Dutch Navy during the 19th century.
Casemate ironclad
Ironclads turret ship
Monitors
  • Buffel class
    • Buffel (1868) - retired in 1973 and converted into a museum ship in 1974
    • Guinea (1870) - sold for scrap in 1897
  • Schorpioen class
    • Schorpioen (1868) - converted into a museum ship in 1982
    • Stier (1868) - struck in 1908
  • Heiligerlee class
    • Heiligerlee (1868) - sold for scrapping in 1910
    • Krokodil (1868) - unknown
    • Tijger (1868) - unknown
    • Cerberus (1869) - unknown
    • Bloedhond (1869) - unknown
  • Adder class
    • Hyena (1870) - unknown
    • Panter (1870) - unknown
    • Adder (1871) - unknown
    • Haai (1871) - unknown
    • Wesp (1871) - unknown
    • Luipaard (1876) - unknown
  • Draak (1877) - unknown
  • Matador (1878) - unknown
  • Reinier Claeszen (1891) - unknown

Norway
Monitors

Peru
The Peruvian Huáscar (1865), the most famous ship of the Peruvian Navy. It is currently a historical relic in Chile and one of the earliest ironclads to be preserved afloat.
Monitors
Broadside armored frigate
Ironclad turret ship
  • Huáscar* (1865) - captured by the Chileans at the Battle of Angamos in 1879, during War of the Pacific
Casemate ironclad
  • Loa (1854/1865)[upper-alpha 4] - sunk in the Blockade of Callao in 1881, during War of the Pacific

Portugal
Central battery ironclad

Russia
Main article: List of ironclads of Russia

Spain
The Spanish Numancia (1863) was the first ironclad to circumnavigate the world, between 1865 and 1867.[5]
Broadside armored frigates
Central battery armored frigates
Floating battery
  • Duque de Tetuán (1874) - retired in 1900
Monitor

Swedish
The Swedish John Ericsson (1865), part of a class of five monitors, was designed under the supervision of the Swedish-born inventor, John Ericsson, and built in Sweden.
Monitors
Coastal defence ships
  • Svea class
    • Svea (1885) - retired in 1941
    • Göta (1889) - retired in 1923
    • Thule (1893) - retired in 1923

Turkey/Ottoman Empire
Main articles: List of ironclad warships of the Ottoman Empire and List of major surface ships of the Ottoman steam navy § River monitor (Zırhlı Duba)

United Kingdom
Main articles: List of ironclads of the Royal Navy and List of breastwork monitors of the Royal Navy

United States
Main articles: List of monitors of the United States Navy and List of ships of the Confederate States Navy

See also

Notes
  1. These designs are for oceanic ironclads, although there were also coastal ironclads that used ram, casemate, turret and barbette.
  2. Originally it was a 70-gun ship that became an armored frigate between 1862 and 1864.[3]
  3. It was converted into a casemate ironclad between 1961 and 1863.
  4. Built in 1854 as a wooden steamship and converted to a casemate ironclad in 1865.[4]
  5. It was a steam frigate called Resolución that in 1870 ended up being converted into an armored frigate of the central battery, adopting the new name of Méndez Núñez.

References
  1. Rodríguez, Horacio (1995). Las fuerzas navales argentinas: historia de la flota de mar (in Spanish). Instituto Browniano. p. 140.
  2. Scheina, Robert L. (1987). Latin America: A Naval History, 1810–1987. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 64. ISBN 0-87021-295-8.
  3. Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. p. 55. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
  4. López Martínez, Héctor (1972). Historia maritima del Peru: La república, 1876-1879 (in Spanish). Comisión para Escribir la Historia Marítima del Perú, Editorial Ausonis. p. 262.
  5. Sondhaus, Lawrence (1958). Navies in Modern World History. London: Reaktions book ltd. p. 142.

Bibliography
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