Discoveries and Inventions of the Nineteenth Century

“Take it all in all, a ship of the line is the most honourable thing that man, as a gregarious animal, has ever produced. By himself, unhelped, he can do better things than ships of the line; he can make poems, and pictures, and other such concentrations of what is best in him. But as a being living in flocks, and hammering out with alternate strokes and mutual agreement, what is necessary for him in those flocks to get or produce, the ship of the line is his first work. Into that he has put as much of his human patience, common sense, forethought, experimental philosophy, self-control, habits of order and obedience, thoroughly wrought hand-work, defiance of brute elements, careless courage, careful patriotism, and calm expectation of the judgment of God, as can well be put into a space of 300 ft. long by 80 ft. broad. And I am thankful to have lived in an age when I could see this thing so done.” So wrote Mr. Ruskin about forty years ago, referring, of course, to the old wooden line-of-battle ships. It may be doubted whether he would have written thus enthusiastically about so unpicturesque an object as the Glatton, just as it may be doubted whether the armour-plated steamers will attain the same celebrity in romance and in 150verse as the old frigates with their “wooden walls.” Certain it is that the patience, forethought, experimental philosophy, thoroughly wrought hand-work, careful patriotism, and other good qualities which Mr. Ruskin saw in the wooden frigates, are not the less displayed in the new ironclads. Floating batteries, plated with iron, were employed in the Crimean War at the instigation of the French Emperor. About the same time the question of protecting ships of war by some kind of defensive armour was forced upon the attention of maritime powers, by the great strides with which the improvements in artillery were advancing; for the new guns could hurl projectiles capable of penetrating, with the greatest ease, any wooden ship afloat. The French Government took the initiative by constructing La Gloire, a timber-framed ship, covered with an armour of rolled iron plates, 4½ in. thick. The British Admiralty quickly followed with the Warrior, a frigate similar in shape to the wooden frigates, but built on an iron frame, with armour composed of plates 4½ in. thick, backed by 18 in. of solid teak-wood, and provided with an inner skin of iron. The Warrior was 380 ft. long, but only 213 ft. of this length was armoured. The defensive armour carried by the Warrior, and the ironclads constructed immediately afterwards, was quite capable of resisting the impact of the 68 lb. shot, which was at that time the heaviest projectile that could be thrown by naval guns. But to the increasing power of the new artillery it soon became necessary to oppose increased thickness of iron plates. The earlier ironclads carried a considerable number of guns, which could, however, deliver only a broadside fire, that is, the shots could, for the most part, be sent only in a direction at right angles to the ship’s length, or nearly so. But in the more recently built ironclads there are very few guns, which are, however, six times the weight of the old sixty-eight pounders, and are capable of hurling projectiles of enormous weight. The ships built after the Warrior were completely protected by iron plates, and the thickness of the plates has been increased from time to time, with a view of resisting the increased power which has been progressively given to naval guns. A contest, not yet terminated, has been going on between the artillerist and the ship-builder; the one endeavouring to make his guns capable of penetrating with their shot the strongest defensive armour of the ships, the other adding inch after inch to the thickness of his plates, in order, if possible, to render his ship invulnerable. Fig. 70.—Section of H.M.S. Hercules. One of the finest of the large ironclads is the Hercules, of which a section amidships is presented on the next page. This ship is 325 ft. in length, and 59 ft. in breadth, and is fitted with very powerful engines which will work up to 8,529 indicated horse-power. The tonnage is 5,226; weight of hull, 4,022 tons; weight of the armour and its backing, 1,690 tons; weight of engines, boilers, and coals, 1,826 tons; total with equipment and armament, 8,676 tons. Although the Hercules carries this enormous weight of armour and armament, her speed is very great, excelling, in fact, that of any merchant steamer afloat, for she can steam at the rate of nearly 17 miles an hour. She also possesses, in a remarkable degree, the property which naval men call handiness; that is, she can be quickly turned round in a comparatively small space. The handiness of a steamer is tested by causing her to steam at full speed with the helm hard over, when the vessel will describe a circle. The smaller the diameter of that circle, and the shorter the time required to complete it, the better will the vessel execute the movements required in naval tactics. Comparing the performances of the Warrior and the Hercules, we find that the smallest circle the former 152can describe is 1,050 yards in diameter, and requires nine minutes for its completion, whereas the latter can steam round a circle of only 560 yards diameter in four minutes. The section (Fig. 70) shows that, like the Great Eastern, the Hercules is constructed with a double hull, so that she would be safe, even in the event of such an accident as actually occurred to the Great Eastern, when a hole was made by the stripping off of her bottom plates, 80 ft. long and 5 ft. wide. The defensive armour of the Hercules is, it will be observed, greatly strengthened near the water-line, where damage to the ship’s side would be most fatal. The outer iron plates are here 9 in. thick, while in other parts the thickness is 8 in., and in the less important positions 6 in. The whole of the hull is, however, completely protected above the water-line, and the iron plates are backed up by solid teak-wood for a thickness of from 10 in. to 12 in. The teak is placed between girders, which are attached to another iron plating 1½ in. thick, supported by girders 2 ft. apart. The spaces between these girders are also filled with teak, and the whole is lined with an inner skin of iron plating, ¾ in. thick. The belt along the water-line has thus altogether 11¼ in. of iron, of which 9 in. are in one thickness, and this part is, moreover, backed by additional layers of teak, as shown in the section; so that, besides the 11¼ in. of iron, the ship’s side has here 3 ft. 8 in. total thickness of solid teak-wood. The deck is also covered with iron plates, to protect the vessel from vertical fire. The Hercules carries eight 18–ton guns as her central battery, and two 12–ton guns in her bow and stern: these guns are rifled, and each of the larger ones is capable of throwing a shot weighing 400 lbs. The guns can be trained so as to fire within 15° of the direction of the keel; for near the ends of the central battery the ports are indented, and the guns are mounted on Scott’s carriages, in such a manner that any gun-slide can be run on to a small turn-table, and shunted to another port, just as a railway-carriage is shunted from one line to another. Targets for artillery practice were built so as to represent the construction of the side of the Hercules, and it was found, as the result of many experiments, that the vessel could not be penetrated by the 600 lb. shot from an Armstrong gun, fired at a distance of 700 yds. The production of such iron plates, and those of even greater thickness which have since been used, forms a striking example of the skill with which iron is worked. These plates are made by rolling, and it will be understood that the machinery used in their formation must be of the most powerful kind, when it is stated that plates from 9 in. to 15 in. thick are formed with a length of 16 ft. and a breadth of 4 ft. The plates are bent, while red hot, by enormous hydraulic pressure, applied to certain blocks, upon which the plates are laid, the block having a height adjusted according to the curve required. The operation requires great care, as it must be accomplished without straining the parts in a manner injurious to the strength of the plate. Fig. 71.—Section of H.M.S. Inconstant. Fig. 71 on the next page is the section of another ship of war, the Inconstant, which has not, like the Hercules, been designed to withstand the impact of heavy projectiles, but has been built mainly with a view to speed. The Inconstant has only a thin covering of iron plating, except in that portion of the side which is above water, where there is a certain thickness of iron diminishing from the water-line upwards, but not enough to entitle the Inconstant to be classed as an armoured vessel. This ship, however, may be a truly formidable antagonist, for she carries a considerable number of heavy guns, which her speed would enable her to use with great effect against an adversary incapable of manœuvring so rapidly. She could give 153chase, or could run in and deliver her fire, escaping by her speed from hostile pursuit in cases where the slower movements of a ponderous ironclad would be much less effective. The Inconstant carries ten 12–ton guns of 9 in. calibre, and six 6–ton 7 in. guns, all rifled muzzle-loaders, mounted on improved iron carriages, which give great facilities for handling them 154The ship is a frigate 338 ft. long and 50 ft. broad, with a depth in the hold of 17 ft. 6 in. She is divided by bulkheads into eleven water-tight compartments. The engines are of 6,500 indicated horse-power, and the vessel attains an average speed of more than 18½ miles per hour. Fig. 72.—Section, Elevation, and Plan of Turret of H.M.S. Captain. Fig. 73.—H.M.S. Captain. A new system of mounting very heavy naval guns was proposed by Captain Coles about 1861. This plan consists in carrying one or two very heavy guns in a low circular tower or turret, which can be made to revolve horizontally by proper machinery. The turret itself is heavily armoured, so as to be proof against all shot, and is carried on the deck of the ship, which is so arranged that the guns in the turret can be fired at small angles with the keel. The British Admiralty having approved of Captain 156Coles’ plans, two first-class vessels were ordered to be built on the turret system. These were the Monarch and the Captain—the latter of which we select for description on account of the melancholy interest which attaches to her. On page 155 a diagram is given representing the profile of the Captain, in which some of the peculiarities of the ship are indicated—the turrets with the muzzles of two guns projecting from each being easily recognized. The Captain was 320 ft. long and 53 ft. wide. She was covered with armour plates down to 5 ft. below the water-line, as represented by the dark shading in the diagram. The outer plating was 8 in. thick opposite the turrets, and 7 in. thick in other parts. It was backed up by 12 in. of teak; there were two inner skins of iron each ¾ in. thick, then a framework with longitudinal girders 10 in. deep. The deck was plated in the spaces opposite the turrets with iron 1½ in. thick. The Captain was fitted with twin screws—that is, instead of having a single screw, one was placed on each side, their shafts being, of course, parallel with the vessel’s length. The object of having two screws was not greater power, for it is probable that a single screw would be more effectual in propelling the ship; but this arrangement was adopted because it was considered that, had only one