 Barnaby deliberately selected a hull shape with narrow, fine ends to limit the volume of the hull that could be flooded and situated the armoured deck below the waterline to prevent it from being pierced by enemy shells and flooding the lower part of the ironclad.Furthermore, he heavily subdivided the hull to limit the amount of water that could enter through any one hit and placed coal bunkers above the armoured deck to absorb the fragments from exploding shells.Unbeknownst to his critics, "Collingwood" was tested in 1884 with her ends and the large spaces in her hold ballasted with water and her draught only increased by and she lost a minor amount of speed.