When GKH first went to sea in 1865 the changes to warship design that are described in the previous note were just beginning. His first two ships were the screw frigate Narcissus and the screw corvette Challenger. The Narcissus had started life as a 4th rate sailing frigate, but had been converted to screw propulsion while being built. Despite the conversion to the new form of propulsion, both ships still had many features of the old navy. They both had wooden hulls, mounted their armament broadside on the main deck and, as will be seen from the Diaries, continued to depend almost entirely on sail power to cover the vast distances of the southern oceans.
In 1861 a new chapter in warship design had started with the completion of the Warrior, the first iron hulled armoured battleship. She was followed by a number of similar vessels which are collectively described in Admiral Ballard's fascinating book The Black Battlefleet.
Between 1868 and 1880 GKH served in four of these ships, Minotaur, Lord Warden, Resistance and Audacious. The Lord Warden differed from the other successors to Warrior in that her hull was made of wood, but in other respects she was very similar. The Audacious, which was the last of the four ships to be built, had one important design difference. Her main armament was arranged as a central battery and concentrated on two decks amidships. This design made it possible to improve living conditions and for the first time officers had direct daylight in the wardroom and their cabins, and ratings no longer had to share their messes with the main armament. A very good feel for what life on board a ship would have been like at this stage in GKH's career can be obtained from a visit to Warrior in Portsmouth Harbour.
After more than ten years in capital ships GKH spent much of the next twenty years in cruising ships. In the early 1880s he served as First Lieutenant and Gunnery Officer of Druid, on the North American and West Indies Station. This wooden hulled corvette, which had been built in the early 70s, was not a significant improvement on the Challenger in which GKH had served as a Midshipman nearly 20 years earlier, and indeed was disposed of in 1886 after an active life of only 14 years.
His next appointment was to Euryalus, the Flagship of the East Indies station. This iron corvette, completed in 1878, represented a half way stage between the old frigate and the new all steel cruiser. Fitted with the new compound engine she had a cruising radius of 4000 miles and was probably the first ship that GKH served in where steam was the primary source of motive power.
Having been promoted Commander GKH was next appointed to Shannon, completed in 1875 . This ship was the Royal Navy's first armoured cruiser. As a war design she was not a great success, being too lightly armed and protected to be a small battleship and too slow and dependent on sail power to be an effective cruiser.
In his next two appointments GKH commanded the composite screw sloops, Penguin and Melita. These two ships, completed in 1876 and 1888 respectively, were designed to carry out the traditional policing role of the earlier cruising ships and were very dependent on sail power. Melita, built in Malta Dockyard, was the first ship which GKH served in that had breech loading guns and the last one that did not have an all metal hull.
GKH was promoted to Captain in 1892 and in 1894 took command of the iron screw corvette Volage, completed in 1870. This ship was part of the Training Squadron and had a full rig of sails. By this date most of the fleet had turned over to steam propulsion, but sail was still part of the initial training programme.
In 1898 GKH took command of the armoured cruiser Narcissus which was on the China Station. Completed in 1889 this ship was the first one in which GKH served in that was totally dependent on steam power.
1899 he returned to England and was given command of Revenge a pre-dreadnought of the Royal Sovereign Class. This first class battleship had a main armament of four 13·5 inch breech-loading guns and had a speed of 16 knots.