The gun deck
Mess tables set between the cannon along the full length of the deck, where seven hundred men ate, slept and fought in one space.
On the day she slid into the water in late December 1860, this ship made every navy on earth obsolete without firing a shot in anger. Britain built Warrior as the answer to France's Gloire, the first armoured warship, and the answer was simply bigger and faster: an iron hull 128 metres long, four and a half inches of armour over teak backing, steam engines alongside a full spread of sail, and around seven hundred men aboard. Nothing afloat could touch her, and nobody tried. The irony is that what made her revolutionary also aged her fast. Within twenty years she was in reserve, and she then spent half a century as a humiliated oil-fuelling jetty in Wales before an eight-year restoration at Hartlepool brought her back to Portsmouth in 1987. The masts are steel now, the engines are working replicas, the guns are fibreglass, but the feeling on board is entirely real: the sheer length of the gun deck, with mess tables set between the cannon, tells you how seven hundred men ate, slept and fought in the same space. Warrior's great advantage is that she floats at the very entrance to the Historic Dockyard, just inside Victory Gate, so you see her whole from the quay and can photograph all three masts without dry-dock walls and conservation scaffolding in the way, which is more than can be said for Victory at the moment. She is also roomier, quieter and higher-ceilinged than her famous neighbour, so moving around with children is easier, though the ladders between decks are steep. Pushchairs cannot go aboard (there is a buggy park at the entrance); a ramp reaches the upper deck for wheelchairs but steepens with the tide, and a stairlift drops to the gun deck. There is no standalone ticket: entry is on Historic Dockyard tickets, either a single-attraction day ticket at £36 adult / £26 child or the £51 Ultimate annual ticket, which also covers Victory, the Mary Rose and the rest and is the sensible buy if you are here for the day. No timed slot is needed for general admission. An hour is a comfortable visit. One caveat: the ship is hired out for functions and parts of her can close on some evenings, so check the website on the day, especially in summer when bookings are busiest.
Mess tables set between the cannon along the full length of the deck, where seven hundred men ate, slept and fought in one space.
A working replica of the steam engines that gave her 14 knots, turning before you down in the hull among the boilers.
Because she floats at the entrance rather than sitting in a dry dock behind conservation scaffolding, all three masts fit in one photograph, which Victory does not allow at present.
Victory Gate, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Portsmouth PO1 3QX
Victory is the more famous, the older and the one with Nelson's story, so it is the first choice for anyone who cares about history. Warrior is roomier, quieter and higher-ceilinged, easier with children and far more photogenic from outside. With the £51 Ultimate ticket you can do both in a day, and it costs only £15 more than a single-attraction ticket, so the choice is hardly worth making.
Children from about six upwards usually enjoy it, but pushchairs cannot go aboard (there is a buggy park at the entrance) and the ladders between decks are steep, so be ready to carry the very young. It is still easier than Victory, with higher ceilings and wider passages.