Warships and their story

by R. A. Fletcher

“Why not with a piece of steel?” Sir Henry Bessemer asked, in 1881, many years later. “Why not a cylinder made of steel in preference to that iron coil? For the making of steel cylinders was then an accomplished fact, but the making of those iron coils was not an accomplished fact. The iron coil system has been thoroughly shown up, but at an enormous expense to this country. The incident was the turning-point which made us have iron guns, while every other country in the world has got steel guns.” But the next year the Government decided that the Navy’s guns should be constructed entirely of steel.

At the International Exhibition of 1862, a spherical steel cannon-ball was exhibited, and in January, 1864, some particulars were published of trials of projectiles of this class fired from a smooth-bore against armour-plate 5½ inches in thickness. This moved Sir Henry to remark that an expenditure of £50 three years earlier would have given as full a proof of the efficiency of these projectiles.

“Meanwhile how many hundred thousands pounds have been expended in building iron-plated ships, which these long-neglected steel projectiles will riddle as easily as the cast-iron shot found its way through the wooden walls of our old men-of-war!... It is not less remarkable that while our firm at Sheffield have manufactured some hundred and fifty pieces of Bessemer steel ordnance for foreign service, guns of this material are still untried by our government, although it is well known that the strength of this metal is double that of ordinary iron, while such is the facility of production that a solid steel gun block of twenty tons in weight can be produced from cast fluid in the short space of twenty minutes, the homogeneous mass being free from weld or joint.

“Our armour-plate system has certainly received a severe shock, and it behoves us now to see how far it is possible to increase the resisting power of ships so as to keep pace with the advances made by steel shot.... The fine ship Minotaur ... was all that excellent workmanship and the best iron could make her, but still she was only iron. It has been stated that the hull of the vessel weighs 6,000 tons, and her 4½-inch armour 1,850 tons. Now, had the hull of this vessel been built of a material possessing double the strength of ordinary iron her weight might have been reduced to 3,000 tons; but suppose that, while we admit a double strength of material, we only reduce the weight by one-third, this would give 4,000 tons of steel for the hull. Now, with this reduction in the weight of the hull, we may employ 9-inch armour-plates in lieu of the 4½-inch armour-plates now employed. It must be borne in mind that the resistance offered by the armour-plate is equal to the square of its thickness; hence a vessel constructed in the manner proposed would bear a blow of four times the force that the present structure is calculated to withstand. Thousands of Bessemer steel projectiles are now being made for Russia.... Have we a single ship afloat that can keep out these simple round steel shots fired from a common smooth-bore gun, if ever directed against us?”

12½-PR. Q.F. 50-CALIBRE GUN AND MOUNTING.

4-INCH B.L. 40-CALIBRE GUN AND MOUNTING FOR TORPEDO BOAT
DESTROYERS.

Photographs supplied by the Coventry Ordnance Works, Ltd.

After a remarkable series of experiments, Sir Joseph Whitworth produced a number of rifled guns of great power and precision. In 1863 they proved their worth in the Civil War in America, and in 1864 a series of competitive experiments was conducted by the British Government at Shoeburyness between the Armstrong and Whitworth guns. The committee of artillerists reported its inability to decide which was the better weapon, and the Whitworth gun was not then adopted by the Government, though foreign nations bought them largely. Four years later a Whitworth gun was produced which threw a 250-lb. projectile 11,243 yards, a range never before attained, and a 310-lb. projectile, 11,127 yards. Sir J. Whitworth also attempted to prove that a flat-headed projectile will penetrate armour-plates even when striking obliquely.