Warships and their story

by R. A. Fletcher

In describing the vessel, the builders say: “It may be of interest to note here that the Warrior’s armour plates were all fitted at edges and butts with tongues and grooves, the tongues being formed solid out of the plate 1¼ inch wide and ½ inch deep, the grooves being formed slightly larger to facilitate entering. This plan, which was very costly, and was suggested by the curving out of the plates tested at Shoeburyness after being struck by the shot, was not repeated in later vessels, in view of the great difficulty in replacing damaged plates. It is not generally known that the Warrior, though a sea-going warship, had a ram bow, the greatest projection being at about the water-line, the head knee or cutwater being brought on independently after the ram was completed, to maintain the then usual appearance of the frigates of the English navy.”[36]

Besides the side armour, the fore and after ends of the main deck carrying the battery were protected by armoured bulkheads. The great length of the vessel rendered it impossible to armour her entirely, as had she been armoured from end to end the protection afforded to the vital parts of the ship would have been insufficient to withstand the heaviest artillery of the time. Therefore, some 85 feet at either end were left unprotected, and the weight of armour thus saved was added to that covering the central portions of the ship, so that she would be enabled to withstand the worst fire an enemy could bring to bear upon her. It was contended that were her unarmoured ends to be shot away or riddled and rendered useless, her armoured portion would remain afloat, an invulnerable citadel. The belt of armour on the broadside was 22 feet deep, and was backed by 18 inches of teak.

In every respect, save, perhaps, that of manœuvring, she was an improvement upon her French rival. Her ports were about 8 feet 6 inches from the water as compared with 5 feet 8 inches in the Gloire, those of the latter, though comparing favourably with the distance which prevailed in the earlier ships of the line, both sail and steam, being considered much too near the water to permit of her main deck guns being fought except in fine weather. Her gun carriages, too, were a great improvement upon anything of the kind that had been fitted in an English ship. A system of pivoting the carriages under the trunnions of the guns was applied, so that the guns could be trained through portholes only 2 feet wide, or half the size of those fitted in other ships, and as the sides of the ports were plated with 7-inch iron, an additional measure of protection was afforded the crew. Her tonnage was 6,177 tons, builder’s measurement, but her total weight with stores and guns was about 9,000 tons.

The Warrior was a combination of the longitudinal system of ship construction designed by Scott Russell, and the ordinary method of transverse framing, the plans being prepared by the Admiralty. The sixth longitudinal was used to rest the backing and armour upon. The unprotected ends of the vessel were built on the transverse system, and were given a number of watertight compartments. An important feature in the construction was that the transverse plates between the longitudinals were solid but had three holes cut in them to lighten them, and it was in dealing with these plates that some of the earliest improvements were made in following ships. As a further means of giving strength, a vertical watertight longitudinal bulkhead extended from the third longitudinal on each side up to the main deck, to which it was rigidly secured, thus forming an exceedingly strong wing passage and box girder, which was further strengthened by transverse bulkheads. She had not a complete double bottom. Externally, she was fitted with two bilge keels to prevent rolling.

The Black Prince, which followed the Warrior, was 380 feet in length, and exceeded the length of the Gloire by 130 feet; her beam was 58 feet 4 inches, and her displacement 9,210 tons. She also was a full-rigged ship, and had an overhanging or schooner bow, the ram being thought unnecessary, as ramming was no longer looked upon as an important feature of naval tactics.

“These were the last, however, in which the essentials of pictorial beauty were held of paramount importance.”[37]

The attitude of the Admiralty in regard to steam had hitherto been that in many respects it must be auxiliary to sail. The Black Prince’s armour, though only 4½ inches thick, was considered to offer an adequate resistance to the 68-pounder gun’s projectile, and this, too, after the experience gained in the Crimean War; besides which no allowance whatever was made for the probability that more powerful guns, firing heavier projectiles than any yet known, would shortly be in existence, especially as they were already being designed. Although called an ironclad, the Black Prince would be better described as “armour-patched,” for only 213 feet on each side was armour-protected. The rest of the hull, including even the steering gear, was as unarmoured and unprotected as that of any sailer of a century before. The ends of the armoured belts, however, were united by iron plated bulkheads, so that the armoured portion of the ship formed a central or box battery. In order to add to the safety of the ship, in case of its penetration by a hostile shot, a number of watertight compartments was built into her, thereby ensuring a certain amount of buoyancy. This vessel, like the Warrior, was “unhandy,” to use a sailor’s phrase, as were all her class, their length making them difficult to steer, on account of the amount of room required in which to turn. Indeed, they were so awkward that in manœuvres it was necessary to keep them four cables’ lengths apart instead of the two cables’ lengths customary with other vessels. The Black Prince carried four 9-ton guns and twenty 6½-ton guns, all muzzle-loaders. These ships were unquestionably most impressive from the spectacular point of view, and, compared with the wooden ships they superseded, their fighting value was great. They were practically the forerunners of the class represented by the three iron sisters, Agincourt, Minotaur, and Northumberland. The last named, a ship-rigged, armoured, first-class cruiser, was begun in 1865, by the Millwall Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, and completed in 1868, the designs being prepared by the Admiralty. At first it was proposed that she should have only three masts, and as many as fifty-eight guns, but during the process of construction, it was decided to increase the number of masts to five and to reduce the number of guns to twenty-eight more powerful than those originally intended. Her design, and that of her sisters, represented a curious adherence to a belief in the necessity of sail, tempered by a desire to a compromise in the matter of more modern artillery. When launched, she had four 12-ton muzzle-loading rifle guns and twenty-two 9-ton 8-inch muzzle-loading rifles on the main deck, while on her upper deck were two 6.5-ton 7-inch breech-loading rifle guns. Her armour was 5½ inches thick, with 9 inches of teak backing, and was extended throughout her entire length with the double purpose of protecting the ends and steering gear, and of allowing her fore and after guns to be fired from behind armour. This, of course, meant a greater weight to be carried, and it could only be done, if speed were not to be sacrificed, by increasing the length of the vessel. So far as manœuvring was concerned, these ships were much worse than their predecessors.

H.M.S. “BLACK PRINCE.”

Photograph by Symonds & Co., Portsmouth.