War began, and <a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Napier_(Royal_Navy_officer)" title="Charles Napier (Royal Navy officer)">Sir Charles Napier</a> demanded of the Admiralty 120 gunboats, each with engines of 60 horsepower, for the <a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Napier_(Royal_Navy_officer)#Baltic_Campaign" title="Charles Napier (Royal Navy officer)">campaign of 1855 in the Baltic</a>. There were just ninety days in which to meet this requisition, and, short as the time was, the building of the