ships were being built the directing bar was developed which consisted of an iron bar that fastened to a pivot bolt in the sill of the gun port. After the gun carriages were modified, this allowed them to pivot much closer to the gun port than had previously been possible and meant that the gun ports could be narrowed to a width of while retaining the same arc of fire. The gun ports were narrowed to the new width by of wrought iron. Another delay was the modification of the armour plates with tongue and groove joints to lock the plates together and increase their resistance to armour-piercing shells. All together these modifications delayed the completion of Warrior by a year past her contract completion date. Service HMS Warrior joined the Channel Fleet in July 1862 and was placed in ordinary from 1864 to 1867, during which time she was refitted. The ship rejoined the Channel Fleet in 1867 and towed a floating drydock to Bermuda in 1869 with her sister Black Prince. Warrior was placed in ordinary again from 1872 to 1875 and was modified with a poop deck. She was recommissioned into the 1st Class Reserve in 1875 and made periodic training cruises until 1883. The ship was formally reclassified as an armoured frigate in 1884, but was disarmed and mastless. Warrior was hulked as a depot ship in Portsmouth Harbor in 1902 and renamed Vernon III in 1904 when she became part of , the Royal Navy's Torpedo School. The ship regained her original name in 1923 and was converted once more into an oil pipeline pier in 1927. Warrior was towed to Pembroke Dock in 1929 and was renamed C77 in 1942 to release her name for the new aircraft carrier . In 1979 C77 was moved to Hartlepool and was restored as HMS Warrior (1860) as the Fleet Headquarters in Northwood, London had assumed the name of HMS Warrior in the early 1960s. The ironclad can now be seen near at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Black Prince capsized while in dock at Greenock, damaging her masts. She arrived in Spithead in November 1861 with only jury-rigged fore and mizzenmasts. The ship was assigned to the Channel Fleet upon her completion and in 1867–68 she was rearmed and then assigned to the 1st Class Reserve. She was refitted in 1874 and given a poop deck, and rejoined