The ship spent the bulk of her active career as flagship of the Channel Squadron, including during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee Fleet Review in 1887.

They retained the broadside ironclad layout of their predecessor, but their sides were fully armoured to protect the 50 guns they were designed to carry.

[3] The hull was subdivided by 15 watertight transverse bulkheads and had a double bottom underneath the engine and boiler rooms.

[4] Minotaur was considered "an excellent sea-boat and a steady gun platform, but unhandy under steam and practically unmanageable under sail"[5] as built.

[6] Minotaur had a two-cylinder trunk steam engine, made by John Penn and Sons, that drove a single 24-foot (7.3 m) propeller.

Ten rectangular fire-tube boilers provided steam to the engine at a working pressure of 25 psi (172 kPa; 2 kgf/cm2).

The engine produced a total of 6,949 indicated horsepower (5,182 kW) during the ship's sea trials on 10 May 1867 and Minotaur had a maximum speed of 14.33 knots (26.54 km/h; 16.49 mph).

The ships carried 750 long tons (760 t) of coal,[7] enough to steam 1,500 nmi (2,800 km; 1,700 mi) at 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph).

Because her propeller could only be disconnected and not hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag, Minotaur only made 9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph) under sail.

[8] Admiral George A. Ballard described Minotaur and her sisters as "the dullest performers under canvas of the whole masted fleet of their day, and no ships ever carried so much dress to so little purpose.

The lengthy delay in completion was due to frequent changes in design details, and experiments with her armament and with her sailing rig.

[19] On 28 February 1887, she rescued the passengers and crew of the British steamship Valparaiso, which was wrecked on a reef off Vigo, Spain.