her guns weighed 80 tons each; she carried the thickest armour ever to have been carried by a British warship, at ; great attention was paid to her damaged stability to ensure she could absorb damage and remain upright and buoyant. Resignation Rendel resigned from Armstrong's company in 1882, when Armstrong decided to make Andrew Noble sole manager of the Ordnance Department. In fact, Rendel loathed Noble, as did his brothers, who also worked for Armstrong. Admiralty career He was invited by the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Earl of Northbrook to become an extra-professional Additional Civil Lord of the Admiralty on the Board of Admiralty in 1882, but retired from this post due to ill-health in 1885. Italy He was persuaded to rejoin Armstrongs in 1888, in order to manage a new armaments factory, built as a subsidiary, at Pozzuoli, near Naples in Italy. In 1900 Armstrong died, and Sir Andrew Noble succeeded him as chairman of the company, now known as Sir W G Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd. After Armstrong's death, the old acrimony between the Rendels and Andrew Noble came to the fore, with George and his brothers criticising Noble's management of the company. The dispute between the two sides was not resolved until several years after George's death. Honours and awards In 1863 he was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the following year his paper "Gun carriages and mechanical appliances for working of heavy ordnance" was awarded the Watt medal. He was awarded the Spanish Order of Charles III in 1871, and the order of the Cross of Italy in 1876. He was elected as a member of the Institution of Naval Architects in 1879, and became vice-president in 1882. Death Rendel retired to "Broadlands", his home in Sandown, Isle of Wight. He used a wheelchair for the last two years of his life. He died at home on 9 October 1902 and, although not a Roman Catholic, was at his own request buried at the St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery at Kensal Green in London. References 1833 births 1902 deaths 19th-century Royal Navy personnel People educated at Harrow School Lords of the Admiralty English engineers