An Ironclad is a type of steam-propelled warship developed in Europe and the United States in the mid-19th century, characterized by the steel or iron casemates that protected the hull. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, Gloire, was launched by the French Navy in November 1859, narrowly preempting the British Royal Navy. However, Britain built the first completely iron-hulled warships.
They were first used in warfare in 1862 during the American Civil War, when ironclads operated against wooden ships and, in a historic confrontation, against each other at the Battle of Hampton Roads in Virginia. Their performance demonstrated that the ironclad had replaced the unarmored ship of the line as the most powerful warship afloat. Ironclad gunboats became very successful in the American Civil War.
Ironclads were designed for several uses, including as high-seas battleships, long-range cruisers, and coastal defense ships. Rapid development of warship design in the late 19th century transformed the ironclad from a wooden-hulled vessel that carried sails to supplement its steam engines into the steel-built, turreted battleships, and cruisers familiar in the 20th century. This change was pushed forward by the development of heavier naval guns, more sophisticated steam engines, and advances in ferrous metallurgy that made steel shipbuilding possible.
A number of refinements in the years following converted the ironclad into the battleship.
First Dutch iron ship (Ironclad): Prince Hendrik der Nederlanden (1867 – 1899)
Buffel and Schorpioen class
Hull | Name | Class | Type | Commisioned | Decommisioned | Status |
-- | HNLMS Buffel | Buffel | Ironclad | 1868 | -- | Still active as a museum ship |
-- | HNLMS Guinea | Buffel | Ironclad | 1873 | 1897 | Sold for scrape in 1897 |
-- | HNLMS Schorpioen | Schorpioen | Ironclad | 1868 | 01-04-1909 | Museum Ship since 1982 |
-- | HNLMS Stier | Schorpioen | Ironclad | 1868 | 1906 | Sold for scrape in 1930 |
-- | HNLMS Koningin der Nederlanden | -- | Ironclad | 16-02-1877 | 01-04-1895 | Sunk in 1942 |
HNLMS Koningin der Nederlanden
Evertsen class
Hull | Name | Class | Type | Commisioned | Decommisioned | Status |
-- | HNLMS Kortenaer | Holland | Coastal defence ship | 17-12-1895 | 1920 | Scraped in 1920 |
-- | HNLMS Evertsen | Holland | Coastal defence ship | 01-02-1896 | 1913 | Scraped in 1913 |
-- | HNLMS Piet hein | Holland | Coastal defence ship | 03-01-1896 | 1914 | Scraped in 1914 |
Koningin Regentes class
Hull | Name | Class | Type | Commisioned | Decommisioned | Status |
-- | HNLMS Koningin Regentes | Koningin Regentes | Coastal defence ship | 03-01-1902 | 1920 | Scraped |
-- | HNLMS de Ruyter | Koningin Regentes | Coastal defence ship | 29-10-1902 | 1923 | Scraped |
A-888 | HNLMS Hertog Hendrik | Koningin Regentes | Coastal defence ship | 05-01-1904 | 27-09-1968 | Scraped |
