 British ships did not participate in any major wars in the ironclad period . The Royal Navy 's ironclads only saw action as part of colonial battles or one @-@ sided engagements like the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882 . Defending British interests against Ahmed ' Urabi 's Egyptian revolt , a British fleet opened fire on the fortifications around the port of Alexandria . A mixture of centre @-@ battery and turret ships bombarded Egyptian positions for most of a day , forcing the Egyptians to retreat ; return fire from Egyptian guns was heavy at first , but inflicted little damage , killing only five British sailors . Few Egyptian guns were actually dismounted , on the other hand , and the fortifications themselves were typically left intact . Had the Egyptians actually utilised the heavy mortars that were at their disposal , they might have quickly turned the tide , for the attacking British ironclads found it easy ( for accuracy 's sake ) to simply anchor whilst firing — perfect targets for high @-@ angle fire upon their thinly armoured topdecks . 
 British ships did not participate in any major wars in the ironclad period . The Royal Navy <a href='null_genetive' title='1'><mark>'s</mark></a>ironclads only saw action as part of colonial battles or one @-@ sided engagements like the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882 . Defending British interests against Ahmed <a href='null_genetive' title='2'><mark>'</mark></a>Urabi <a href='null_genetive' title='3'><mark>'s</mark></a>Egyptian revolt , a British fleet opened fire on the fortifications around the port of Alexandria . A mixture of centre @-@ battery and turret ships bombarded Egyptian positions for most of a day , forcing the Egyptians to retreat ; return fire from Egyptian guns was heavy at first , but inflicted little damage , killing only five British sailors . Few Egyptian guns <a href='uninflect' title='4'><mark>were</mark></a> actually dismounted , on the other hand , and the fortifications themselves <a href='uninflect' title='5'><mark>were</mark></a> typically left intact . Had the Egyptians actually utilised the heavy mortars <a href='null_relcl' title='6'><mark>that</mark></a><a href='uninflect' title='7'><mark>were</mark></a> at their disposal , they might <a href='been_done' title='8'><mark>have</mark></a> quickly turned the tide , for the attacking British ironclads found it easy ( for accuracy <a href='null_genetive' title='9'><mark>'s</mark></a>sake ) to simply anchor whilst firing — perfect targets for high @-@ angle fire upon their thinly armoured topdecks . 
British ships did not participate in any major wars in da ironclad period . The Royal Navy  ironclads only saw action as part of colonial battles or one @-@ sided engagements like the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882 . Defending British interests against Ahmed  Urabi  Egyptian revolt , a British fleet opened fire on the fortifications around the port of Alexandria . A mixture of centre @-@ battery and turret ships bombarded Egyptian positions for most of a day , forcing the Egyptians to retreat ; return fire from Egyptian guns was heavy at first , but inflicted lil damage , killin only five British sailors . Few Egyptian guns was actually dismounted , on the other hand , and the fortifications themselves was typically left intact . Had the Egyptians actually utilised tdaheavy mortars was at their disposal , they mite done quickly turned thdaide , for the attacking British ironclads found it easy ( fa accuracy  sake ) to simply anchor whilst firing — bumpin targets for high @-@ angle fire upon their thinly armoured topdecks .