This was the first class of ocean-going capital ships that did not carry sails, and the first in which the entire main armament was mounted on top of the hull rather than inside it.

However, most ships built at this time were equipped not only with a steam engine, but also with masts and sails for auxiliary power.

She was propelled by two four-bladed screws, 17 feet 6 inches (5.33 m) in diameter, each powered by two direct-acting trunk engines built by John Penn and Sons of Greenwich, providing a total of 5,600 horsepower (4,200 kW), with eight boilers, working at 30 pounds per square inch (210 kPa), giving a maximum speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).

Although they found no reason for concern in the stability of the ship, as a safety precaution a number of changes were made to the design.

[1] Sea trials were made in mid-1873 and generated an unusual amount of public interest; not just for the novelty of her appearance, but as the successor to the Captain.

To judge her behaviour in various sea conditions she was then accompanied by the armoured ships Agincourt and Sultan in a voyage from Plymouth to Castletownbere in southern Ireland, and from there she made two cruises out into the Atlantic.

She left the Mediterranean station headquarters at Malta, homebound, on 19 February 1902,[3] and after a last visit to Gibraltar arrived in Plymouth on 2 April.