In the meantime the authorities were so pleased with the _Achilles_ that three improved editions of her were designed. They were not completed until a new type of ship, which was completed before they were, replaced them; but chronologically they followed close upon the _Achilles_. They were laid down in 1861, and designed by Isaac Watts. They were named _Agincourt_, _Minotaur_, and _Northumberland_. They differed in minor details, but in substance were all about 1,000 tons more than the _Achilles_, and their increased displacement mostly went in one inch extra armour protection (5½-inch against 4½-inch). As originally designed they were intended to mount seven 12-ton and twenty 9-ton guns, but at a very early date the first two were given a uniform armament of seventeen 12-ton. A small portion of this armament of the upper deck was provided with armoured protection for right-ahead fire. [Illustration: THE _ACHILLES_ AS A FOUR-MASTER. Photographed about 1866.] In appearance they were magnificent ships, fitted with five masts. Being 400 feet between perpendiculars they were the largest ships of their time, and at sea always proved very steady under both sail and steam. These ships were the subject of violent disputes between the Controller of the Navy and their constructor. The Controller insisted that they were extravagantly large ships, as compared to French ships. The constructor insisted that it was essential that for any given power and protection a British ship must be larger than a foreign one, because of her more extended probable duties, and the consequent necessity of a larger coal supply.[93] [Illustration: THE _MINOTAUR_, 1867, ORIGINAL RIG.] At and about this period there were a number of wooden ships-of-the-line building, which had been laid down from the year 1859 onwards. Following the French fashion, they were converted into ironclads. These ships, displacing from 6,100 to 6,830 tons, were the _Repulse_, _Royal Alfred_, _Zealous_ (laid down 1859), _Caledonia_, _Ocean_, _Prince Consort_, _Royal Oak_ (1860).[94] The upper-decks of these ships were removed, and they were fitted with side armour, which was 4½ inches in the earliest to be treated, and 5½ inches in the latest. All of them carried sixteen 9-ton guns and four 6½-ton, with provision for ahead fire. The experiment, though useful as a temporary expedient, was very expensive, and several of the ships had to be lengthened before anything could be done to them. None of them were very successful, and most of them disappeared from the Navy List at an early date. This ends the period of “broadside ironclads”; of the best of which it may be said that they were nothing but efforts to adapt new ideals to old methods. XI. THE REED ERA.