User blog comment:Void Samukai/The 7 key BBs in history/@comment-14850713-20160120073340/@comment-14850713-20160121160650

If that book considers "Fisher's Follies" as good ships then we're better naval historians (lol).

About Warrior, her iron hull didn't mean she was better protected. Only a central citadel was armored, meaning she could be holed fore and aft. This is why the Admiralty (rightly so) considered her incapable of fighting in the line of battle and classified her as an armored frigate (also because she only had a single gun deck). Gloire on the other hand was almost completely armored up to the waterline. Warrior had better guns (which was to be expected as she was launched later), but her real advantage was in speed (+ 2-3 knots) as iron enabled the RN to build a longer and faster ship. Her length, however, made her less maneuverable than her French rival.

I forgot about Satsuma, although I'm not sure if her design was approved before South Carolina's. As for the latter, I should have said "standard template of main gun arrangement...until Vanguard" and not Yamato as Vanguard was the last battleship ever built.