DOUBLE ENDER.
The cuts represent the shape of some of the iron-clads built for service in the western rivers, where the shallowness of the stream made it necessary that the craft should not draw too much water.
For the same reasons the "tin-clads," as they were called from the thinness of the plates with which they were covered, were built. The "double-enders" were also thus constructed, in order to navigate, as necessary, either way, in the narrow and crooked streams, where our navy performed such admirable work during the War.
The use of heavy artillery in naval warfare has also caused great modifications to be made in the construction of other naval ships than the monitors. To avoid the injury caused by heavy artillery, the idea was suggested of plating them with iron. The most extensive experiments of this kind were made in England, but not with the most gratifying success. It was found that the iron plating rendered the ships too heavy, if it was made thick enough to be of effective service. In a rough sea the vessels rolled so heavily as to be nearly unmanageable, while the weight of the plating on the sides acted with a leverage to tear the ships in halves, so that they were considered almost unsafe. One of them, also, on her trial trip, having capsized and sunk with her entire crew, public confidence in them as serviceable vessels was entirely lost; and the advantage of iron-plating large ships of war may be still considered as an open question.
MINNEHAHA, OR TIN-CLAD.