HMS Warrior, the first iron-hulled armoured battleship, is launched

Background. Warrior and her sister ship HMS Black Prince were the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warships, built in response to France's launching in 1859 of the first ocean-going ironclad warship, the wooden-hulled Gloire. Warrior was ordered on 11 May 1859 from Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company in Blackwall, London, and laid down some time after 6 June 1859 on the West Ham side of Bow Creek, once the P&O ocean liner Seine had been launched and the slipway reinforced to support Warrior's weight. The new company was the largest shipbuilder on the Thames, its premises described by the Mechanics' Magazine in 1861 as "Leviathan Workshops".

Launch. Warrior was launched on 29 December 1860, during the coldest winter in fifty years. The event took place at the Thames Ironworks in Blackwall, London. The ship was the world's first all-iron warship and the largest warship at the time. The launch marked the beginning of a new era in naval construction, utilizing iron hulls and armour plating.