Back to the drawing board: HMS Captain

From the mid-1850s, warship design was rapidly developing – sail was gradually giving way to steam, ironclads were replacing wooden vessels, and smooth-bore artillery firing round-shot was being superseded by rifled shell-firing guns. One of the most imaginative naval designers of the period was Captain Cowper Phipps Coles, who had become a popular hero during the Crimean War when he built a raft armed with a 32-pdr cannon. This played a key role in the successful bombardment of Taganrog in 1855. After the war, he studied the concept of warships carrying their main armament in revolving turrets, and patented a turret design in 1859. A sketch of HMS Captain. Crimean War hero Captain Cowp