Turret ships were a 19th century type of warship

Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

, the earliest to have their guns mounted in a revolving gun turret

Gun turret

A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...

, instead of a broadside

Broadside

A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...

 arrangement.

The first experiment was the addition of a turntable-mounted shielded gun to HMS Trusty

HMS Trusty

Four ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Trusty: was an Aetna class ironclad floating battery launched in 1855 and broken up in 1864. It was the first turret ship. was a tug launched in 1866, renamed in 1917 as HMS Trustful and broken up in 1920. was an S-class destroyer launched in...

 (a floating battery) in 1861. The USS Monitor

USS Monitor

USS Monitor was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She is most famous for her participation in the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, the first-ever battle fought between two ironclads...

, built in 1862, is more famous, being the first ship mounted with only a turret to take part in battle. Pressure from the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

's proponent of turrets, Captain Cowper Phipps Coles

Cowper Phipps Coles

Captain Cowper Phipps Coles, C.B., R.N. , the son of the Reverend John Coles and his wife Mary Ann Goodhew Rogers, was an English naval Captain and inventor. Coles died when HMS Captain, an experimental warship built to his designs, sank with him onboard.-Naval career:He entered the Royal Navy at...

, led to the building of HMS Captain

HMS Captain (1869)

HMS Captain was an unsuccessful warship built for the Royal Navy due to public pressure. She was a masted turret ship, designed and built by a private contractor against the wishes of the Controller's department...

 to his design in 1869. She was a low freeboard

Freeboard (nautical)

In sailing and boating, freeboardmeans the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship...

 design and capsized during a heavy gale while under sail. HMS Monarch

HMS Monarch (1868)

HMS Monarch was the first sea-going warship to carry her guns in turrets, and the first British warship to carry guns of calibre.-Design:...

 and HMVS Cerberus

HMVS Cerberus

HMVS Cerberus is a breastwork monitor that served in the Victoria Naval Forces, the Commonwealth Naval Forces , and the Royal Australian Navy between 1871 and 1924....

 built at the same time proved more durable and HMS Devastation

HMS Devastation (1871)

HMS Devastation was the first of two Devastation-class mastless turret ships built for the British Royal Navy. This was the first class of ocean-going capital ship that did not carry sails, and the first whose entire main armament was mounted on top of the hull rather than inside it...

 of 1871 led directly to the modern battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

. Mostly turret ships were monitors

Monitor (warship)

A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...

, oceangoing and coastal. Ships like the Zhenyuan were used in the Sino-Japanese war and Sino-Russian war.