The Ajax- class was a class of ironclad ( battleships ) of the Royal Navy . Since they carried their main armament in turrets, they are also known as tower ships . The ships of this class were the last newbuildings of the Royal Navy to be equipped with muzzle-loading guns. They were also the first ships to carry additional armament in addition to the main armament.
The Ajax- class ships were intended to be the successors to the Inflexible . This successful design was to be replaced by a smaller and cheaper one - mainly for financial reasons. Such an approach had a certain tradition in the Royal Navy, but was rarely crowned with success.
construction
The basic design was the same as for the Inflexible - the main armament, four large-caliber guns, was placed in a heavily armored citadel amidships. The guns stood amidships diagonally offset on turntable mounts to enable a large sweep angle. The displacement was 3000 tons below that of the inflexible , so the caliber of the main armament had to be reduced from 16.25 inches to 12.5 inches. The maximum speed was two knots less. In contrast to the Inflexible , the buoyancy behavior was essentially ensured by the unarmored bow or the unarmored stern, if water ingress into these areas the ships would have sunk. Auxiliary sails were not used from the start.
