HMS Devastation (1871)
HMS Devastation was the lead ship of her class of mastless ironclad turret ships built for the Royal Navy. Along with her sister HMS Thunderer (1872), she was the first class of ocean-going capital ships that did not carry sails, and the first in which the entire main armament was mounted on top of the hull rather than inside it.
Devastation served around the United Kingdom and Mediterranean. In 1891, she underwent a refit, where her 12-inch muzzle loading guns were replaced with 10-inch breech loaders. she was also refitted with new triple-expansion steam engines.
She later served as the guard ship for Gibraltar from 1901 to 1902. She then returned to the UK where 21 June 1902 she was recommissioned as a tender to the torpedo school ship HMS Vernon. She was broken up in 1908.
