Her armament was to consist of two 10-inch (254-millimeter) rifled guns mounted on pivots fore and aft and five 15-inch (381-mm) smoothbore guns mounted on the deck above an armored casemate. The guns were to fire 425-pound (193-kilogram) shells. The gun crews, protected by the casemates, would load the guns from below through holes in the deck protected by armored hoods; the gun's muzzle would be pointed into the hole, and a steam-powered cylinder would use a ramrod to load the gun for the next shot, allowing a high rate of fire. Water was to be injected into each gun automatically after it fired, to cool the gun and prevent it from being damaged by extended, rapid firing.