Warships and their story

by R. A. Fletcher

In considering the development of the warships of other types, it is necessary to go back a few years. The British dockyards were unequal to the demands upon them for the wars of the latter part of the eighteenth century, and a greater number of warships than ever before was built by contract at privately owned yards.

It is interesting to note that one firm of shipbuilders which built ships for the navy in those days and even a century earlier, on Thames side, is still in existence, and in spite of limited liability company laws and the introduction of new partners, is still known as Green’s yard, at Blackwall, and is still managed by bearers of the name.

Twenty-six sail of the line and eighty-two smaller vessels were launched from private yards during the war ending in 1762, and twenty-four sail of the line and twelve smaller ships were launched at the King’s yards between the declaration of war in 1756 and the proclamation of peace seven years later. This is of importance as showing the resources of the country even at that time in warship building, and the assistance the government was glad to receive from the private builders at times of emergency.

During this war it was decided that no more eighty-gun three-deckers or seventy-gun or sixty-gun ships should be built. In place of the first-named, ships of seventy-four and sixty-four guns were ordained, and fifty-gun ships with a roundhouse were ordered to replace the latter. The first seventy-fours and sixty-fours were too small for the weight of the guns they had to carry, and their successors of that class were larger. No eighty-gun ship with three decks was built after 1757, and no seventy-gun ship after 1759. The Cæsar was the first English eighty-gun ship with two decks; she was built in 1793.

Towards the end of 1778 many of the second rates were given eight additional guns on the quarter deck, which virtually raised them to ninety-eight-gun ships. An important constructional improvement in 1783 was the adoption of copper fastenings in all classes of ships below the water-line; iron bolts had been found to corrode under the influence of the salt water.

Ships continued to increase in size and power of armament. The Ville de Paris, of one hundred and ten guns and 2,332 tons, and her sister ship, the Hibernia, ordered in 1790, were the first of their class. Before the latter was finished she was lengthened and her tonnage raised to 2,508 tons. Another new class, introduced about that time, comprised three ships of 776 tons each, carrying thirty-two guns, the main deck armament consisting of 18-pounders; they did so well that several others were added.

About 1783 a greater length in proportion to beam was adopted, which made the ships faster sailers and better sea-boats, and several vessels of the higher classes were altered, and many others had their bottoms specially thickened to withstand stranding. The 42-pounder guns of the largest ships were found difficult to handle and of less rapidity of fire than the 32-pounders, and were removed from the main deck battery of the Royal Sovereign and other ships in favour of the 32-pounders.

The Commerce de Marseilles, of 120 guns, was one of the French vessels which accompanied under compulsion the combined English and Spanish squadron from Toulon in 1793. She was considered to be the largest ship in the world. Her gun-deck was 208 feet 4 inches in length, and her keel for tonnage 172 feet 0⅛ inch. Her depth of hold was 25 feet 0½ inch, and her extreme breadth 54 feet 9½ inches, her tonnage being 2,747 tons. She was not a very valuable acquisition, however, for her timbers were in such a state that she was not worth repairing; she was accordingly taken to pieces in 1802. Probably, like many more vessels built in those strenuous times, she was constructed of unseasoned timber, or had a quantity of immature or soft wood put into her in order that she might be got ready for war as quickly as possible, for warships were wanted in such a hurry that it was more necessary that they should be available for use at the earliest opportunity than that they should be expected to last for very long. Both the British and French fleets had a number of these “green” ships.

If the French could have a vessel of such gun power and dimensions there was no reason why the English should not, so the Caledonia, of 2,602 tons, was ordered in 1794, and was to be the largest and most powerful yet built in England. Her main deck guns were to be 32-pounders, because of the greater ease with which they could be handled. On her lower deck she had thirty-two of these guns, on the middle deck thirty-four 24-pounders, on the main deck thirty-four 18-pounders, on the quarter deck sixteen 12-pounders, and on the forecastle four 12-pounders. Her officers and crew numbered eight hundred and seventy-five. Her length was 205 feet, breadth 54 feet 6 inches, and depth of hold 23 feet 1 inch. She was the favourite ship of Lord Exmouth. At first she had a square stern, but when the rounded sterns were shown to be better in every way she was altered to the new mode, and her armament was revised. She afterwards became the hospital ship at Greenwich under the name of the Dreadnought. The model of her at South Kensington shows that her rigging was probably unique. Her royal masts were fidded, that is, built above the topgallant masts instead of forming one long pole with them, as is the custom, and there were also peculiarities in the arrangement of some of her running rigging. This ship was launched at Devonport in 1808.