At the time of her design the Board of Admiralty were at loggerheads amongst themselves as regards the provision of sails in their contemporary warships; steam engine design had advanced to the point where ships could cross the Atlantic under steam power alone, but centuries of tradition had left an ingrained emotional attachment to sails in a small but influential number of the senior members of the naval hierarchy.

[citation needed] A pair of auxiliary engines, each of 600 indicated horsepower (450 kW), were fitted to turn the screws while the ship was proceeding under sail.

The hollow lower masts, utilised as ventilation exhausts, were identified as a significant fire hazard due to their ability to generate a powerful updraught.

This configuration presumably served as an additional measure of protection against raking fire from ahead, given that it added a significant amount of weight with no discernible other function.

It featured a deeply embrasured corner port on each side, providing a 10-inch gun with an arc of fire from right ahead to 7° abaft the beam.

This configuration served to augment the volume of chase or bow fire, albeit under normally favourable conditions, as the embrasures were prone to shipping such green water during steaming against a heavy head sea, thereby precluding the opening of the ports.

The armour was designed to rise 25 feet above the water level at the battery, with 8-inch plating as its highest layer to cover the upper tier.

A unique feature of the Alexandra was the position of an after 5-inch armoured bulkhead lying athwartships at waterline level 65 feet from the stern, with the object of affording extra protection to the engines against a raking from aft.

During her third commission, at ten years old, she was fitted with the new swinging-boom net defence against torpedoes, of the pattern at that time in process of issue to all British battleships.

[5] It had been intended to call the ship HMS Superb, but the name was changed at her launching, which was undertaken by Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra) on 7 April 1875.

[6] The religious element of the service (the first at a ship launch since the Reformation) was conducted by Archibald Campbell Tait the then Archbishop of Canterbury assisted by Thomas Legh Claughton, the Bishop of Rochester.

[8] On 9 February,[9] she ran aground in bad weather at the narrowest part of the strait and was towed off by HMS Sultan in time to lead the squadron to Constantinople.

[10] She was present at the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882; in this action the Admiral's flag was shifted to HMS Invincible, as she was of shallower draught and could sail closer to shore.

Alexandra was featured in the first volume of the Navy and Army Illustrated in early c. April 1896 and was then described as a "coastguard ship at Portsmouth" with her principal armament being eight 18-tons guns, four 22-ton, six 4-inch and four six-pounder and six three-pounder quick firers.