In September 1893 a report was published by the Director of Naval Construction, W. H. White, on how the ship had sunk, and it was submitted to parliament in November. It combined evidence from the survivors with the known design details of the ship. "Camperdown" struck approximately from the stem of "Victoria" at an angle of approximately 80°, just ahead of one of the main transverse bulkheads. "Camperdown" was travelling at about , so the blow roughly equated with the energy of a shell from one of the guns then in service, the 45-ton breech-loading rifle (BLR). It pushed "Victoria"s bow sideways . "Camperdown" was most probably held back from driving further into "Victoria" by coming up against the protective armoured deck running across "Victoria" below water level. "Camperdown"s stem penetrated approximately into "Victoria"s side, while the underwater ram penetrated about , below water level. Had "Camperdown" been travelling more slowly, then it was likely the damage from her stem would have been lessened, but the underwater ram might instead have torn a hole along "Victoria"s relatively thin lower plating as she continued to move forward. A similar thing had happened in a collision between the German warships and , causing the latter to sink. This did not happen because the two ships became locked together, although the momentum caused "Camperdown" to rotate relative to "Victoria", tearing the hole wider.