 Ships designed for coastal warfare , like the floating batteries of the Crimea , or USS Monitor and her sisters , dispensed with masts from the beginning . The British HMS Devastation , started in 1869 , was the first large , ocean @-@ going ironclad to dispense with masts . Her principal role was for combat in the English Channel and other European waters ; and while her coal supplies gave her enough range to cross the Atlantic , she would have had little endurance on the other side of the ocean . The Devastation and the similar ships commissioned by the British and Russian navies in the 1870s were the exception rather than the rule . Most ironclads of the 1870s retained masts , and only the Italian navy , which during that decade was focused on short @-@ range operations in the Adriatic , built consistently mastless ironclads . 
 Ships designed for coastal warfare , like the floating batteries of the Crimea , or USS Monitor and her sisters , dispensed with masts from the beginning . The British HMS Devastation , started in 1869 , was the first large , ocean @-@ going ironclad to dispense with masts . Her principal role was for combat in the English Channel and other European waters ; and while her coal supplies gave her enough range to cross the Atlantic , she would <a href='been_done' title='1'><mark>have</mark></a> had little endurance on the other side of the ocean . The Devastation and the similar ships commissioned by the British and Russian navies in the 1870s <a href='uninflect' title='2'><mark>were</mark></a> the exception rather than the rule . Most ironclads of the 1870s<a href='been_done' title='3'><mark></mark></a> retained masts , and only the Italian navy , which during that decade was focused on short @-@ range operations in the Adriatic , built consistently mastless ironclads . 
Ships designed for coastal warfare , like da floatin batteries of tdaCrimea , or USS Monitor and her sisters , dispensed with masts from the beginning . Thdaritish HMS Devastation , started in 1869 , was the first bigass , ocean @-@ going ironclad to dispense witt masts . Her principal role was for combat in the English Channel and other European waters ; and while her coal supplies gave her enough range to cross the Atlantic , she would done had little endurance on thedaher side of the ocean . The Devastation and the dailar ships commissioned by the Bdaish and Russian navies in the 1870s was the exception rather den the rule . Most ironclads of the 18da been retained masts , and only the Itadan navy , which durin dat decade was focused on short @-@ range operations in the Adriatic , built consistently mastless ironclads .