Design and Description
The Hector-class ironclads, like their immediate predecessors, the Defence class, were designed as smaller and cheaper versions of the Warrior-class armoured frigates. They were modified versions of the Defence-class ships with additional armour and more powerful engines.
HMS Valiant was 280 feet 2 inches (85.4 m) long between perpendiculars. She had a beam of 56 feet 4 inches (17.2 m) and a draft of 26 feet 2 inches (8.0 m). The ship was 300 long tons (300 t) overweight and displaced 7,000 long tons (7,100 t). The hull was subdivided by watertight transverse bulkheads into 92 compartments and had a double bottom underneath the engine and boiler rooms. The ships of her class were designed with a very low centre of gravity and had a metacentric height of 4 feet 6 inches (1.4 m). While handy in manoeuvring, they rolled quite badly.
Read more about this topic: HMS Valiant (1863)
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