HMS Thunder Child HMS Thunder Child HMS "Thunder Child" is a fictional ironclad torpedo ram of the Royal Navy, destroyed by Martian fighting-machines in H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" whilst protecting a refugee rescue fleet of civilian vessels. Torpedo rams were constructed in the 1870s and 1880s after the ramming and sinking of the "Re d'Italia" at the Battle of Lissa in 1866 by the Austrian flagship, "Ferdinand Max". Despite the Italian warship being stationary at the time, the successful attack influenced naval thinking for the next few decades. The result was specially designed low profile, fast, armoured vessels equipped
John McClintock (Royal Navy officer) John McClintock (Royal Navy officer) Vice-Admiral John William Leopold McClintock, CB, DSO (26 July 1874 – 23 March 1929) was a Royal Navy who became President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Born the son of Admiral Sir Francis Leopold McClintock, McClintock joined the Royal Navy in 1887. He held the rank of lieutenant when in June 1902 he was posted to serve as first and gunnery (G) lieutenant on the protected cruiser HMS "Andromeda", flag ship of the "Cruiser division" of the Mediterranean Fleet. He served in World War I, during which he commanded the battleship HMS "Lord Nelson"