On 12 July 1871 the Royal Navy launched HMS Devastation, a warship which marked a decisive break from centuries of naval design.
Coal and steam gave Devastation significant tactical advantages over older ships. With better firepower and more freedom of movement in battle she was the wave of the future. After 1875, every new warship in the Royal Navy was powered solely by steam.
The ship marked the beginning of the new era of mastless steamship in the Royal Navy, ships whose decks allowed better positioned guns, making warships far more formidable in battle. It is not surprising therefore that HMS Devastation has an iconic status in naval history, marking a watershed moment in ship design. Described by contemporaries as ‘by far the most formidable of its kind yet constructed’, with ‘exceptionally heavy armour and armament’, its mastless design gave the impression of something rather otherworldly.
Paradoxically, this new technology created a new set of strategic, logistical, and geopolitical risks and challenges for Great Britain
This new generation of warships made coal and its supply, an issue of the highest importance to navies the world over. ...Supplying this coal was beset with a myriad of problems, and would have global ramifications.
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As Britain had huge global oceanic interests to defend, places to store fuel were needed worldwide, close enough together to allow ships to travel between on one load. There was, moreover, little point in spending huge sums on state of the art warships if the fuel fed to their engines was below par. Thus, the coal available at each station not only had to be sufficient for those ships that called in, but also of the highest quality to ensure maximum performance from the fleet. The shift from sail to steam also led to geostrategic weakness.
The ability of a rival to take, or destroy supplies, and thus leave British ships impotent, meant that these key infrastructural nodes would in themselves need to become a key part of global defence strategy.
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