Hi Colin
Totally agree, they were some spectacular looking ships but completely useless in combat situations. Whoever came up with the phrase on Facebook 'When Hotels Go To War' certainly had it right! I hope that John Jordan continues his work and maybe expands into the Russian pre-WW1 design warships that were of similiar design. I can only dream!
Thanks for the link, I'm a fan of the Steampunk genre all though I stop at the dressing up stage! Its the design work I enjoy and the imagination of the great Jules Verne and HG Wells in what they thought the future would be like.
I've always had an interest in the War of the Worlds and the reference to ThunderChild/Polyphemus in the book. Often thought of buying a Polyphemus hull and doing a sistership to the Polyphemus calling her ThunderChild-a later build of a fictious Cyclops class torpedo ram...