rifled 110-pounder breech-loading guns and twenty-four 68-pounders. The breech-loading guns were a new design from Armstrong and much was hoped for them. Firing tests carried out in September 1861 against an armoured target, however, proved that the 110-pounder was inferior to the 68-pounder smoothbore gun in armour penetration and repeated incidents of breech explosions during the Battles for Shimonoseki and the Bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863–1864 caused the navy to withdraw the gun from service shortly afterwards. Due to her extended construction time, Valiant never received the breech loaders, and was armed with sixteen and two rifled muzzle-loading guns. The two 8-inch guns were mounted on the quarterdeck where they could be fought in all weathers and four 7-inch guns were also fitted on the upper deck. The remaining twelve 7-inch guns were carried on the main deck. The shell of the 15-calibre 8-inch gun weighed while the gun itself weighed . It had a muzzle velocity of and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal of wrought iron armour at the muzzle. The 16-calibre 7-inch gun weighed and fired a shell. It was credited with the nominal ability to penetrate armour. Armour The Hector-class ships had a wrought-iron waterline armour belt, thick, that covered amidships and left the bow and stern unprotected. To protect against raking fire the belt was closed off by 4.5-inch transverse bulkheads at each end at lower deck level. The armour extended to below the waterline. The main deck was protected by a strake of armour that ran the full length of the ship. Amidships, it was 4.5-inch thick for a length of 216 feet and tapered to a thickness of to the ends of the ship. The armour was backed by of teak. The lack of armour at the stern meant that the steering gear was very vulnerable. Service history HMS Valiant was laid down on 1 February 1861 by Westwood, Baillie in Cubitt Town. This company went bankrupt in November 1861 and was ultimately bought by Thames Ironworks, which delayed the ship's launching until 14 October 1863. In August 1865, after Valiant had been towed to Portsmouth for fitting out, the ship was inspected by French officers during a port visit by ironclads of the French Navy. Production of the new muzzle-loaded rifles was slow and ships already in commission had priority so Valiant was not commissioned until September 1868, nearly