The Swiftsure class battleships of the late Victorian era were broadside ironclads designed and built specifically for service as Flagships on the Pacific station.

As there was at that time not sufficient experience with turret-mounted armament, and none at all with turrets in first-class battleships, the idea did not find favour and this class was completed with a broadside box battery deployed on two levels, on the main and on the upper deck.

Fouling of ships' hulls by marine life had been a problem since the dawn of shipbuilding.

Until the middle of the nineteenth century ships' bottoms had been sheathed with copper sheeting, which prevented fouling but was expensive.

The two ships spent some time in reserve, but in their active careers they took turns as flagship of the Pacific station.