Pre-industrial Armoured Ships

Pre-industrial Armoured Ships

Armoured warships were wooden ships or ships of composite construction (wooden planking on iron frames) armoured with thick metal plates. The Europeans made ships with metal ribs as rams, and there are also documents about armoured ships, some of them equipped with naval artillery. In East Asia there are records about metal armoured warships combined with naval artillery from the 16th century.

However, it should be pointed out that in every single case of both European and Far Eastern vessels evidence of iron armour is either unclear, ambiguous or disputed.