HMS Devastation (1871)
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HMS Devastation was built by the British Royal Navy at the Pembroke Dockyard, England in 1871. She is considered the first true capital ship built by any nation at the time.
Devastation was built in the 1870s, a time in which steam power was well established among the world's larger naval powers. However, most ships built at this time were not only equipped with a steam engine but also masts for auxiliary power. This also led to a tendency to mount gun turrets as broadsides. Devastation changed all of this when she was built without masts and her primary armament of two turrets each with two 12-inch muzzle-loading guns were placed on the top of the hull, allowing each turret to have a 280 degree arc of fire. In 1891, the 12-inch guns were replaced with 10-inch breech-loading guns and she was refitted with new engines.
She was deployed to serve near the waters of the United Kingdom and the Mediterranean Sea. Afterwards, she was refitted again and assigned to the First Reserve Fleet based in Scotland. The ship was broken up in 1908.