The Admiral Class (1887)
Collingwood served as the model for a class of five battleships, the Admiral class: Howe, Rodney, Anson (shown above), Camperdown, and Benbow. Points of difference from the prototype included deeper draft in the first two (10,300 tons), yet larger size -- 5' longer and 6" wider for an additional 300 tons -- on the last 3 of the class; and increase in size of the main armament from 12" to 13.5". The last of the class, the Benbow, mounted a single monster 16.25" gun in each barbette. If not identical, the 6 ships were at least homogeneous, marking a big change from the many one-offs and spinster sisters of the experimental period -- the 1860s through early '80s.
All five of the Admiral class vessels were held up by delays in completing their guns. They were considered quite successful once they hit the waves. The effectiveness of their rams was proven beyond doubt by the most notorious of the group: HMS Camperdown, which sank the Mediterranean flagship HMS Victoria in a deadly accident in 1893.
HMS Camperdown receives her 13.5" main armament in the Royal Dockyard at Malta. A work detail is busy repainting the bow, standing on floating planks lowered from deck.
HMS Camperdown in the Mediterranean fleet, c. 1891.
Barbette mounting on HMS Royal Sovereign of 1892. 13.5" guns rest on a turntable that rotates inside a better than one foot-thick armored breastwork; gun crews work below to reload and train guns, in a space known as the "gun pit". Shells and propellant charges travel up from the magazines in hoists that run inside the armored barbette tube.
More view of the barbette mounting on HMS Royal Sovereign. With their lower freeboard, the Admirals relied on a taller, more slope-shouldered barbette to achieve elevation for the guns and keep them dry.