Discoveries and Inventions of the Nineteenth Century

are 8 in. in thickness, with 10 in. of teak backing; but on the less important parts the thickness of the iron is reduced to 6 in., and in some places to 4 in. This ship has a broadside battery, and there are no turrets, but on the deck there are, fore and aft, two semicircular shields, formed of iron plates and teak, pierced with port-holes for cannon, and also with loop-holes for muskets. From these a fore-and-aft fire may be kept up. The ship is fully rigged, and has also steam engines of 7,000 horse-power, by Maudslay and Co. Her armament consists of four three-hundred-pounders, capable of delivering fore-and-aft as well as broadside fire, and twenty-three other guns of the same size between decks. These guns are all Krupp’s steel breech-loaders. Fig. 78.—The König Wilhelm. Fig. 78a.—The “Victoria” leaving Newcastle-on-Tyne. The great contest of armour plates versus guns has already been alluded to, and to the remarks then made it may be added that, while on the one hand, guns weighing 110 tons are mounted in turrets, ships are already designed with 18 in. and even 20 in. of steel armour plates. It would be very difficult to predict which side will sooner reach the limit beyond which increase of size and power cannot go. The gradual increase of thickness of plating, attended by increased weight of guns, projectiles, and charges 166of powder, may be illustrated by stating in a condensed form a few details of some ships, as regards the thickness of armour, and its resisting power, which is nearly in proportion to the square of its thickness; and also some particulars respecting the guns originally carried by those ships. Warrior. Hercules. Glatton. Thunderer. Victoria. Date when completed 1861 1868 1872 1877 1889 Thickness of iron plating in inches 4½ 9 12 14 18 Relative resisting power of plating 20 81 144 196 324 Guns carried Cast iron, smooth bore Wrought iron, rifled Wrought iron, rifled Wrought iron, rifled Steel, Rifled Weight of guns in tons 4¾ 18 25 35 111 Charge of powder in lbs. 16 60 70 120 960 Weight of projectiles in lbs. 68 400 600 700 1,800 Destructive power of projectiles in foot-tons 452 3,863 5,165 8,404 56,000 167One of the latest additions out of the thirty or forty armoured ships that have been added to the British Navy since the preceding pages were written is included in the above table for the sake of comparison. Our ironclad fleet now includes vessels protected and armed in many different ways. Some have the protective armour extended continuously along the water-line, others have it for only a greater or less part of their length. The armaments are also very diverse as to the size of the guns and the way in which they are mounted. A few carry one or two of the huge 110–ton gun mounted in massive revolving turrets; others have their guns in central batteries, or in barbettes, and others again are arranged as broadside ships; while these plans are also variously combined so as to form a great number of different types. In the ships built within the last 15 years, steel has been almost invariably used instead of iron for the armour-plating. A great increase of speed has been obtained in late years. The largest British armoured ships yet launched have displacements between 10,000 and 12,000 tons, but another class of first-rate line-of-battle ships of still greater size is in process of construction, and of these it is estimated that four will be completed in 1893. They are all of the same design and armament, and will have a displacement of 14,150 tons, a length of 380 feet, and a breadth of 75 feet. The armour plates at the sides will be 18 inches thick. Each ship will carry four 67–ton breech loading rifled guns, ten 6–inch quick firing guns, and 18 other smaller guns, also quick firing. These vessels are expected to realize a speed of about 20 miles per hour; but this is somewhat less than a few of the heavy ironclads now afloat have given by actual trial, a rate equal to 21⅓ miles an hour having been attained by some. Several of our rapid unarmoured cruisers are able to steam at 25 miles an hour. Before the close of 1894, the British navy possessed no fewer than eight of the largest armoured line of battle-ships mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, each being of 14,150 tons displacement, and having engines of 13,000 horse-power. At the same period there were in course of construction four ships surpassing even these in tonnage, though of somewhat less engine-power. Two were building at Portsmouth, to be called the Majestic and the Royal George, whilst the Jupiter was in progress at Glasgow and the Mars at Birkenhead. All these are very heavily armoured vessels, each displacing 14,900 tons, provided with engines of 12,000 horse-power, and a very effective armament of guns. Among the powerful ships of the navy may now also be noted the Blake, the Blenheim, which, although the displacement is only 500 tons greater than that of König Wilhelm, have engines of nearly three times the power, namely, of 20,000 horse-power. Of large armoured ships, namely, those of 9,000 tons and upwards, Great Britain now has afloat at least fifty; and the advance that has taken place in the size and power of war-ships during the last twenty years may be inferred by reference to the foregoing paragraphs giving the dimensions, &c., of the Glatton and the Thunderer, which paragraphs are, for the sake of comparison, allowed to appear as they did in the first edition (1876) of this book. Besides these very large armoured vessels, of which the smallest is nearly twice as big as the largest of twenty-five years ago, the British navy comprises ships of every size and for every purpose, and so many of them that their names and classifications would occupy many pages. Two recent additions representing new type of ships claim notice before this article is concluded. These are first the Terrible, with a 168sister ship the Powerful. The former, of which a representation[3] is given in Plate V., is pronounced, for its size, armour, armament, and speed taken together, to be the most powerful cruiser in the world. The length is 538 ft., breadth 71 ft., depth 43 ft., and the displacement is 14,250 tons. A special object in the design of this vessel was high speed, and she is provided with twin-screws and two engines, the combined effort of which is equal to 25,000 horse-power. There are forty-eight boilers and four funnels, the ship being capable of carrying 3,000 tons of coal. The vessel is built on the lines of the great Atlantic steamers, and the engines, guns, and magazines are protected by a thick curved armour deck. The vessel has a speed of 22 knots, or 25⅓ miles per hour. Her armament consists of two 22–ton guns, twelve 6–in. quick-firing, and many other smaller machine guns, and she carries besides four submerged torpedo tubes. A second ship to be noted is amongst those designed mainly to exceed all other craft in speed, and ranging in tonnage from 3,800 to 4,500. The Janus, a torpedo-boat destroyer of this class, was found, at a recent trial over a measured mile, to attain the then unexampled speed of 28 knots, or 32¼ miles per hour. But even this has been beaten by a new torpedo-boat destroyer, built by Messrs. Yarrow at Poplar for the Russian Government, and launched in August, 1895. This vessel, within a few hours after leaving the stocks, cut through the water at the rate of 30·285 knots, or nearly 35 miles, per hour. 3. From Graphic, 1st June, 1895. A sad fate befell the Victoria, which was one of the heaviest armed of British ships (vide page 129), when taking part in some naval manœuvres off Tripoli, on the Syrian coast, where she was the flag-ship of Admiral Tryon, commander-in-chief of the squadron. On the 22nd June, 1893, in consequence of an inconsiderate order given by the admiral himself, the Victoria was struck by the formidable ram of the Camperdown (10,600), and in fifteen minutes turned over and sank in sight of the whole fleet, carrying down with her the admiral, 30 officers, and 320 men, out of a crew of 600. [1895.] Fig. 78b.—Firing at a floating battery. PLATE XI. H.M.S. “TERRIBLE.” 169 Fig. 79.—Krupp’s Works, at Essen, Prussia.