Navies of the world

by Edward W. Very

The first of these (in point of rate) was designed entirely with a view to securing the highest possible speed and steaming capacity, all other qualities being made subordinate. The displacement of this type was between 4800 and 5000 tons, ranging about 300 tons higher than the frigates of 1855, and they were designed for a speed of 17 knots, with a steaming capacity of 5600 miles at 10 knots. The speed alone was realized. The ships themselves being built of white oak rotted almost before they could be launched; the frame was not of sufficient strength to resist the powerful working of the engines or the wear and tear of cruising, failing in this particular as the English frigates Mersey and Orlando had in 1858. The consumption of fuel was beyond the calculations, reducing the steaming power to less than 3500 miles.

The second type was that of a fast frigate, or more properly first-rate (Piscataqua), in which strength of battery and sail-power were raised to their old proportions with regard to the displacement. The displacement of this type was 4000 tons, battery 25 nine-inch smooth-bores, and speed 12 knots, with a steaming capacity of 3000 miles at 10 knots. These ships were also built of white oak and soon rotted, and their general unhandiness combined, with the great expense of keeping them in commission, caused the type to drop out of existence.

The third type (Congress), having a displacement of 3000 tons, came nearer to the requirements of a large fast ocean cruiser than either of the others, proving fast under steam or sail, handy, and carrying a well-proportioned battery. This type died out with the others in the general demoralization following the reduction of the fleet after the war.

The fourth type (Plymouth), having a displacement of 2400 tons, with a battery of 12 guns and a speed of 12 knots, was in reality a development of the Shenandoah class, having for an increase of 300 tons a gain in battery proportional, and a maximum of speed both under steam and sail without any increase of draught. Of the four types, this one alone, which was a development of the Shenandoah class, the latter being modified from the Hartford, was the only real step in advance; but even this type has passed from the active list at present.

Between 1865 and 1873 England was the only country in which real development was carried on. The French, keeping closely within the limits of their programme, were engaged in developing speed and testing subordinate modifications in the lower rates of their vessels. By this is meant such modifications as testing the value of the topgallant forecastle, leading to its adoption in all rates; the suppression of the poop-cabin, the test of the long ram bow for furnishing additional buoyancy forward, the merits of double and single screw propulsion, etc.—particulars which were subordinate to the main architectural development. The United States Navy from 1865 to 1873 passed through a period of uninterrupted decadence. Millions were spent in the futile effort to patch up the fast-rotting fleet of white-oak ships that had been hastily constructed during the war, while not a single attempt was made to benefit by the rapid development of the English.

Between 1860 and 1866 English attention had been almost exclusively turned to the development of the iron-clad fleet; that of the unarmored fleet consisted almost entirely of experiments in composite and iron construction, bringing out no new types, but perfecting constructional development. In the latter year, however, directly following the appearance of the Wampanoag, the same course was followed as with the Wabash ten years before. Before the world had had time to form any judgment with regard to the real value of the type, the lines of the Inconstant were laid down and the ship was pushed rapidly to completion. In this case the development of iron construction saved England from the blunder committed in 1858 with the Orlando. It was the American vessel that had overshot the mark in measurements for wooden construction. The English turned out a seaworthy ship, but her real utility is questionable owing to her unhandiness and the expense of keeping her in service. The displacement of the Inconstant is 5800 tons, battery ten 9-inch and six 7-inch rifles, speed 16 knots, and steaming capacity 2160 miles at 10 knots. The Americans attained superior speed and steaming capacity by a sacrifice of battery-power. The English attempted to realize all the qualities.

At the same time two other fast cruisers approaching the rate of the Congress were built (Volage and Active). Between 1870 and 1873 is seen the same search amongst dimensions to find the ones which will best satisfy the demands of speed, steaming capacity, and battery-power. The Shah, Raleigh, Boadicea, Bacchante, Euryalus, and Rover, ranging in displacement from 3500 to 6000 tons, overshooting the mark at first, and apparently best satisfied with dimensions falling between the Piscataqua and Congress types. All of these ships belong more properly to the Piscataqua than to the Wampanoag type; the latter appearing fully developed in the Iris and Mercury, in which, as in the Wampanoag, all is sacrificed to speed. The modifications in this case consist, first, in the steel construction, giving a strength of frame sufficient to withstand the engine-power; second, the reduction of dimensions, giving a displacement of 3700 tons; third, the increase in speed to 18 knots.

In France is found, on the programme of 1873, provision for first-rate fast cruisers; accepting the necessity for this development of the general frigate type, this country deliberates and studies the birth of the type in 1865 in the United States, its development for six years in England, and finally crowns the English modifications with what to-day must be regarded as the most perfect development of the Piscataqua and Shah type. The Duquesne and Tourville have a displacement of 5400 tons, speed of 17 knots, and steaming capacity of 5000 miles at 10 knots. In these ships France borrows the English constructional development of iron sheathed with wood, while by an excellent arrangement she secures a full battery-power with an almost perfect command.

Next in order of rate in England, but last in development, is what is known as the C class of corvettes. Built of steel, with a displacement of 2380 tons, they truly represent the last development of the type whose foundation was the Hartford, and this type is apparently as great a favorite in the English Navy as the Hartford in her day was in that of the United States. In France the second-rate of the programme of 1873 is a distinctly new type. The Duguay-Trouin in one respect is a departure from French custom, her dimensions being carried to the maximum for this rate, giving her a displacement of 3200 tons, which is an increase over her own immediate predecessors of 1200 tons. Her battery-power is if anything lighter than the proportional French average and below that of the English and American vessels of lighter displacement. She is designed for a speed of 16 knots and a steaming capacity of 3500 miles at 10 knots. The main architectural peculiarity of this vessel is the arrangement for securing great command of fire. Her battery is all carried on the upper deck, whilst she has a clear flush main-deck; the opening of fore-and-aft fire by carrying the gun-platforms beyond the upper-deck rail is also a modification. Contemporaneously with the Duguay-Trouin the Americans introduced a new type which comes nearer a modification of the Raleigh than any other class, although it springs directly from the attempted modification of the Hartford class referred to above by which spar-decks were added to them. The present Hartford, with her spar and main decks, and the development of the type in the Trenton show two ships wherein is well exemplified the absurdity of, as it were, putting new wine into old bottles. The Trenton has a displacement of 3900 tons, a battery of eleven 8-inch rifles, and a speed of 13 knots, with a steaming capacity of 3500 miles at 10 knots. In this ship, as in the Trouin, the dimensions of the second rate are carried to an extreme, although in this case the Americans hold fast to the idea of combining moderate speed with a maximum of battery-power and general cruising qualities. The Hartford, however, having proved herself possessed of all the excellences of her day, and these excellences having been secured by a wise distribution of architectural elements, was sacrificed to the crude development of a new type by the addition of a new deck. Although these two ships belong to the same type and rate, no comparison can be instituted between them, and at the very time that the English perfect the Hartford type in the C class of corvettes a blunder of the Americans disrates the original.

Below the C class in England appeared the Opal class of 1900 tons, a modification of the earlier Blanche type corresponding and following close after the American Plymouth type. At the same time a corresponding type appeared in France and the United States. In the former the Rigault de Genouilly has a displacement of 1640 tons, an increase of 400 tons over her immediate predecessors, a battery of eight 5½-inch guns, and a speed of 15 knots, with a steaming capacity of 4000 miles at 10 knots. In America the Marion has a displacement of 1900 tons, a battery of one 8-inch and seven 5½-inch guns, and a speed of 12 knots, with a steaming capacity of 2500 miles at 10 knots. The French in this class show the same difference in qualities from the English and American types that appeared twenty years before.