2-982-058 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Launch of the Inflexible at Portsmouth Dockyard: stern view of the ship, 1876. Warship launched using electricity. 'Hammers and battering-rams were applied to the foremost blocks, which were gradually knocked away...the Princess pressed the button in the mechanism...and christened the ship...The Princess having again pressed a button in the table, the weights fell with a crash. Two workmen stood at each dog-shore with iron mallets upraised to complete the work should the weights have failed to accomplish the duty expected of them. The precaution was superfluous, the weights having completely flattened the dogshores. Still, the ship did not move. But the suspense was only momentary. The powerful hydraulic rams having been brought into play, the ship glided beautifully into the water amid the cheers of the assembled thousands...The launch was a complete success'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.