We may now pass on from the history of the doings of the British Navy to
the history of the ships themselves, and the appliances with which our
sailors fought. We have seen that in the time of King Alfred, when the
Navy, properly so-called, came into existence, ships had but one deck,
or were nearly altogether open, and had but one or two masts with large
square sails, being propelled in calms and contrary winds by long oars.
For purposes of offence they were fitted with beaks or rams to pierce
the sides of the enemy, and were provided with catapults or other
engines for hurling missiles, and with tubes for projecting Greek fire
to create smoke and set their opponent on fire. The main tactics of the
time, however, consisted in grappling with the enemy and transforming
the combat into a hand-to-hand melee.
When cannon were first mounted on board ship, about the year 1335, they
were fired over the bulwarks, and the gunners were thus fully exposed to
the enemy's fire. About the year 1500, however, the Dutch introduced
the modern practice of pointing the guns through ports in the ship's
side, so that the gunners would be sheltered from all shot that could
not pierce the sides. This improvement was soon universally adopted,
and by the beginning of the sixteenth century, ships resembling on the
whole the sailing ship of modern times had been evolved, having one or
two tiers of guns. But as the fight was still at comparatively close
quarters--owing to the guns being small, and of no great range,--
warships were fitted with cumbrous "forecastles" and "aftercastles" (see
illustration on page 69), and with heavy tops on the masts, to contain
musketeers, in order to command the enemy's deck. These features
greatly detracted from their seaworthiness, and made them unwieldy,
cumbrous craft.
As the centuries went on, experience gradually remedied the mistakes of
the earlier builders. Artillery also was improved, and tactics no
longer depended to the same extent on boarding and hand-to-hand
fighting. High "forecastles" and "aftercastles," and heavy tops, thus
became of little use and were discarded, as were also the oars used on
smaller craft, as the art of sailing became better understood and
vessels more seaworthy. For similar reasons the navigating and fighting
sections of the crew, hitherto distinct, were merged into one, only a
small number of "marines," as they are now called, being retained to
perform military duties for which fully trained seamen were not
required.
English naval architects seem to have had little inventive genius till a
late period. The early ships were all imitations from the Genoese or
other maritime people of the Mediterranean, while latterly the best
vessels were either taken from the French or else copied from them. For
instance the model for all the 80-gun ships built at the beginning of
the nineteenth century was the _Canopus_, which was taken from the
French, under the name of _Franklin_, at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.
The _Belleisle_, a "74," captured in 1795, bore a conspicuous part in
the battle of Trafalgar. Many frigates also, whose names are known to
fame, were acquired in the same way and performed useful service against
their former possessors.
In the early part of the eighteenth century British men-of-war were of
insufficient size for the guns they were made to carry, with the result
they worked and sailed heavily, while in heavy weather their lower
batteries could seldom be used. The smaller the vessel the thinner is
her planking, and the more liable are her crew and structure to suffer
from the shot of the enemy. Other nations realised this long before we
did, especially the Americans, who built forty-four gun frigates almost
as large as our "seventy-fours," while their planking was even thicker.
This, of course, told heavily against us in the war with the United
States, but we were taught a lesson which perhaps helped us later on.
In truth Britain's battles were won not because her ships were superior
in size or armament to those of other nations but on account of the
pluck, courage, determination, and good seamanship of British officers
and crews, and because the latter had been well trained to use their
guns.
At last British naval architects woke up from their long lethargy and
began to think for themselves. Till the end of the eighteenth century
the ships were flat-sterned with heavy "quarter-galleries" projecting
from the side at the stern, while their bows below water were bluff with
long projecting beak-heads which, to avoid weight, were but flimsy
structures, affording no protection whatever to the crew. In 1805 Sir
Robert Seppings remedied this defect by constructing a solid circular
bow right up to the main-deck, thus protecting the crew from raking
shot. A dozen years later the same designer abolished the
quarter-galleries, and introduced the neater and stronger circular
stern. From this time forward, improvements were considerable and rapid
until about 1860, when the ironclad settled the fate of the "wooden
walls" that had protected England for well-nigh a thousand years.
But, while the sailing ship was being brought to its highest perfection,
it was on the eve of being supplanted altogether. In 1769, Watt took
out his first patent for the steam engine, and in October 1788 Mr
Miller, of Dalswinton in Scotland, first applied the new motive power to
propel a vessel. An engine was placed on a frame, fixed between two
pleasure boats, and made to turn two paddle-wheels, one in front of the
other--the invention of William Symington--which drove the improvised
steamer across Dalswinton Loch, at the rate of five miles an hour. The
first practical steamer, however, was not built till 1801, when Lord
Dundas, taking advantage of Mr Miller's labours, after spending 7000
pounds on experiments in two years, built the _Charlotte Dundas_. It
was intended to work her on the Forth and Clyde Canal, but the
proprietors having objected that she would damage the banks, she was
laid up, as was a second boat.
In 1804, John Stephens of Hoboken, near New York, built a small vessel
22 feet in length, which ran at the rate of seven or eight miles an
hour, and Fulton soon afterwards introduced steamers on the Hudson. In
the year 1812 the _Comet_ was launched by Henry Bell, a ship carpenter
of Helensburgh, and began to ply on the Clyde, being the first British
steamer that ran regularly with passengers. The _Comet_ was of 40 feet
keel, 25 tons burthen, and 3 horse-power. The second steamer launched
on the Clyde was the _Elizabeth_, in 1813, and the year following, Mr
Fife of Fairlie launched the _Industry_, which was in use for upwards of
fifty years. After this, steam navigation rapidly increased, steamers
being introduced on the Thames in 1815.
The first war steamer ever built, was constructed by Fulton during the
war between the United States and Great Britain in 1814, It was a large
vessel after the plan of the first experimental steamer, two vessels
with the paddles between them, evidently to protect them from the
enemy's shot. This vessel was intended to carry 30 guns, and was fitted
with machinery to discharge hot water through the port-holes, by which
the ammunition of the enemy would be rendered useless, and her crew
scalded to death, if they attempted to come to close quarters. She was
also said to be armed with numerous cutlasses and pikes moved to and fro
by machinery, so that the boarding would be impossible, while it was
supposed that her paddles would enable her to keep ahead or astern of
her enemy, so that the broadside guns could not be trained on her. It
is doubtful, however, if this marvellous production was ever actually
completed, and as her machinery could only have been imperfectly
protected, she might have been disabled and left at her enemy's mercy.
Some years later the Americans had the honour of performing the first
Atlantic voyage under steam, with the _Savannah_, which arrived at
Liverpool on July 15th 1819, after a voyage of 26 days from New York.
Six years later the _Enterprise_, an English vessel, made the longer
voyage to India.
Some years passed before it occurred to the Admiralty that steamers
could be of any use to the Navy, and it was not till 1823 that they
purchased the _Monkey_ tug, which, not withstanding its undignified name
and humble employment, had the honour of being the first steam-vessel
belonging to the Royal Navy. She was a vessel of about 212 tons, and 80
horse-power, and did good service in her day. Both Admiralty and naval
officers held steamers,--"smoke-jacks," or "tea-kettles," they were
generally called--in great contempt, supposing that their only possible
use would be as despatch-boats, or as tugs. It was reasoned that
paddles would be so readily disabled in action, that it would be useless
to fit them to fighting ships. However, after a year or so, several
steam-sloops and frigates were built which took some part in the Syrian
and Chinese wars, as also in operations in the Parana. In none of these
wars, however, were they subjected to any severe test of their liability
to damage under fire.
All possible difficulties on this latter score, were solved in 1834,
when Mr Francis Pettit Smith invented the screw propeller, which works
wholly under water. He succeeded in propelling a small model by this
means on his father's horsepond at Hendon, in Middlesex, and in 1836 he
took out a patent for his invention. The idea was old; in 1775,
Bushnell, an American, had utilised it to propel a submarine boat, but
up till then, practical difficulties in working had not been solved.
Smith was neither a naval man nor an engineer, and for some time,
neither Admiralty, engineers, nor naval men believed that the invention
would work with sufficient power to drive a ship against the wind.
Fortunately others thought differently, and in 1836, a vessel of 10
tons, with an engine of 6 horse-power, was built and successfully tried,
first on the Paddington Canal, and then on the Thames. Finally, it put
out to sea, and demonstrated by its behaviour in severe weather, that
the screw was equally successful in rough water.
This turned the scales in favour of the screw. A larger boat was built,
which showed her powers to the Lords of the Admiralty, by towing their
barge to Blackwall and back, at the average rate of 10 miles an hour.
Still they were not convinced, and it was not for a couple of years or
so that they took the matter up, after a successful voyage made by the
_Archimedes_, the first sea-going screw steamer. They then built a
small craft called the _Bee_, fitted with both paddles and screw, to try
which was the better means of propulsion. The screw had the best of it,
and after the further experiment of building two vessels of the same
size and power, the one with paddles the other with a screw, and finding
the screw still superior, it was finally adopted as an auxiliary to the
sails. Little thought the naval experts of that period, that another
fifty years or so would see both sails and wooden ships quite obsolete--
as far as the Navy was concerned at any rate.
These experiments showed clearly that the screw was absolutely essential
to every warship, as in a calm, the finest sailing ship would be at the
mercy of any small steamer, armed with long-range guns. Thus while new
vessels were laid down specially designed to carry screws, wherever it
was found possible to do so, all the efficient battleships and frigates
were fitted with auxiliary engines. Of course these converted sailing
ships, not having been designed for the purpose, could only carry
engines of small power, still, it was a case of half a loaf being better
than no bread, and was the best that could be done under the
circumstances.
The first propellers were in the form of an ordinary screw thread, but
it was soon found that separate fans were equally satisfactory, and more
convenient to make. Much discomfort was caused by the excessive
vibration caused by the early screws, but various improvements in their
design reduced this. The fans of the screws are now attached by means
of; bolts to a hollow sphere on the end of the shaft, and should a fan
be damaged, it can be readily replaced. At first all screws were so
constructed, that they could be lifted up through a well when sails
alone were being used, so that it would not impede the ship. The
funnels, too, being made to shut up like a telescope, a steamer could
thus be easily turned into a sailing ship.
At the very time that the screw propeller was initiating a revolution in
the method of steam propulsion, another revolution was taking place in
shipbuilding material. Iron barges had been used as far back as 1787,
and an iron steamer had been built at Tipton about the year 1821, but
for another twenty years iron ships were not viewed with favour, and
only began to force their way to the front about the beginning of the
reign of Queen Victoria. Even then they were deemed utterly unsuitable
for war vessels, as being very difficult to repair and keep afloat when
perforated by the enemy's shot, as they must inevitably be in action.
But in the course of time, the iron vessel naturally raised the
possibility of protecting warships by armour, and the matter, was forced
to the front when gunmakers followed the lead of the shipbuilders and
engineers, and set themselves to see what could be done in the way of
improving ordnance, that had remained practically unchanged for hundreds
of years, saving for more accurate workmanship.
Up till this time, only solid round-shot had been used on shipboard. An
attempt had been made to get Napoleon the First to sanction the use of
shells for naval use; fortunately, for some reason or other, he declined
to do so, and thus our great struggle for naval supremacy was carried on
with the solid round-shot that had been in vogue from the earliest
introduction of cannon. The smooth-bore cannon from which they were
fired, could not be relied on to project them with accuracy to distances
greater than about 1500 yards; beyond this range, their flight became so
erratic, that it was simply a waste of ammunition to fire them.
Whitworth and Armstrong set themselves to solve the problem of how to
make cannon shoot better.
The experiments of Whitworth and Armstrong resulted in the production of
rifled guns, based on a principle that had already been tried with
success in small-arms. The rifling enabled long conical shot to be
fired with far greater accuracy than the old round-shot, and as these
conical shot were two or three times as heavy as the round-shot that
could be fired from a gun of the same bore, the guns of a given bore had
only to be rifled to be suddenly raised to a much heavier grade,
supposing them to be strong enough to stand the heavier charge of powder
required. Not only that, but their range would be much greater, and
their shot would pass through both sides of the stoutest ship in
existence. For, when fired at wooden targets identical in material and
thickness with the side of a ship, the projectiles went through them as
if they had been paper, or, if shells were used, tore them to pieces.
Even strong iron plates failed to withstand their impact. The thinner
plates they tore open; as the thickness was increased, they first buried
their heads in the metal, but stuck fast; then indented it only; and
finally glanced off, but not until the plate had been made 4 or 5 inches
thick.
Further progress was also made by the invention of breech loaders, which
gave an increased rate of fire to these already formidable weapons, and
to make matters still worse, much larger guns than had ever been made
before could now be constructed without difficulty, and naval men justly
began to feel uncomfortable about the safety of our "wooden walls."
In 1859, the French led the way by constructing the _Gloire_, which was
covered with thick iron plates, and our Admiralty had to face the task
of constructing ironclad ships, and of armouring existing ships, pending
the construction of others. One thing was very plain; the existing
high-sided ships could not carry the weight of even the thinnest armour
that would be of any service.
In 1861, the _Warrior_ was produced in answer to the French _Gloire_.
She was a frigate-built vessel doing 14 knots, and carried thirty-two
heavy guns, 200 feet only of her length of 310 feet were armoured with
iron plates 4 and a half inches thick--which was proof against any guns
then existing--as it was thought that her seaworthiness would be
impaired if the great weight of the armour were extended to the two
ends. But to protect the vessel from raking shot--that is, shots fired
at her when bow on, or stern on, to the enemy--armoured partitions, or
"bulkheads", as they are called, were provided.
In 1861, ships of the type of the _Minotaur_ were built, armoured from
stem to stern. These were considered monster ships at the time, as they
had a displacement of, 10,627 tons and were 400 feet in length. Their
speed was 14 or 15 knots, attained by engines of 6,700 horse-power. The
bow was constructed on the ram principle, projecting some distance under
the water, and her sides were covered with iron plates 5 inches thick,
tapering off in thickness, however, as they approached the bow.
Further, she was divided into many compartments below water, with
watertight doors, so that if pierced, either in action or by grounding,
she might still be kept afloat. She was fitted with five masts, made
partly of iron, while her armament consisted of thirty-four 12-ton and
18-ton guns. Her cost was, 478,000 pounds but she and her sister ships
the _Agincourt_ and _Northumberland_ did not come up to their
expectations, being found unwieldy on account of their great length,
while in a few years it was found that their armour was not thick enough
to withstand the more powerful guns that were being manufactured.
The next type of design was that of the _Hercules_, the prototype of the
"citadel" design. This ship was protected from end to end by much
thicker armour than had hitherto been used, but instead of carrying the
armour right up to the upper deck, to save weight it was in the form of
a narrow belt protecting a few feet above and below the water line only,
except amidships, where it was carried up to the upper deck, forming a
"citadel," inside which her ten 18-ton and 12-ton guns were well
protected. In this way her guns, waterline, and engines--or "vitals,"
as these are known for short--were fully protected at the expense of
less vital parts of the ship. Though smaller and less expensive than
the _Minotaur_ she was a far more efficient ship. Her broadside was
1818 pounds. The _Sultan_, another ship of much the same type, had a
broadside of 1964 pounds. During the early sixties another type of
vessel came to the front. Captain Coles had invented the "turret,"
which consisted of a turn-table or revolving platform, round which was a
shield of thick armour, turning with it: the top was also closed in. In
the shield was a very small port for the gun--which was aimed by
revolving the turret till it pointed at the required object. The crew
was thus completely protected from the enemy's fire.
In the American Civil War the Federals or Northerners, had provided two
of their wooden frigates with these turrets and sent them to attack the
_Merrimac_, a cut-down wooden frigate which had been armoured and
provided with a ram. The _Merrimac_ steamed up to the _Congress_,
delivering her fire with awful effect, and then proceeding towards the
_Cumberland_, ran into her near the bow, ripping an enormous rent in her
side, and hung on by her own sharp prow while she fired into the
fractured chasm. She then backed out and repeated her tremendous
onslaught, suffering little from the fire of her enemy, till the latter
went down. She next attacked the _Congress_ with shells, which killed
the greater number of the Federal crew, and in half-an-hour the few
survivors hauled down their colours.
Later on the _Merrimac_ was attacked by the armoured _Monitor_. The two
ships hammered away at one another for many hours without result; only
five men were killed after a five hours action, for the armour beat the
gun.
The result of these actions made it clear that turret-ships to be of any
use must be armoured, and as a first experiment it was decided to
cut-down the _Royal Sovereign_, a ship of the size of the _Duke of
Wellington_. Her masts and her three upper decks were taken off, her
lower-deck alone remaining, so that she was cut-down almost to the
water's edge. Massive plates of iron were fastened to her sides and
deck, thus converting her into an ironclad, while four turrets were sunk
into the deck in a line fore and aft, three of them containing one huge
gun each, firing 300-pound shot, while the fourth and foremost turret
contained two guns. The muzzles of the guns were only a little way
above the deck, and the bulwarks were hinged so that when the guns were
to be fired they could be dropped over the side so as not to be in the
way.
Amidships was a circular armoured box, rather higher than the turrets,
called the "conning-tower." Here the captain took his stand in time of
action, communicating with the engines, turrets, and other parts of the
ship, by speaking tubes. In more recent ships the vessel is also
steered from the conning-tower in time of action. Such was our first
converted ironclad turret-ship. She was, however, found to be of little
value, drawing too much water to serve for harbour defence, and not
being handy enough at sea in manoeuvring.
Turret-ships, as first constructed, were very heavily, armoured, and in
consequence rather unseaworthy. Being intended for coast defence only,
they always had a harbour available in bad weather, and sails were not
required as they were never far from a coal supply.
In 1869, however, Sir Edward Reed designed the first sea-going
turret-ships, properly so-called, taking the bold step, as it seemed
then, of providing no sails. These were the _Devastation_ and
_Thunderer_, which, despite many faults, proved to be serviceable ships
for over thirty years. These were ships of, 9,330 tons, and 14 knots
speed, and the annexed picture gives their general appearance. Their
hulls were protected by 12-inch armour, and the turrets by 14-inch
armour, while an important improvement was introduced by providing what
is called a "protective deck," that is, a horizontal deck, of armour
several inches thick, which prevents shot from penetrating to the
engines, etcetera, below. Their armament consisted of four 35-ton guns
firing 600-pound shot, and as all these guns could fire on either side,
their broadside was, 2,400 pounds. Their crews were composed of only
300 men, and though they cost about 150,000 pounds less than the
_Minotaur_ they were far more efficient and powerful warships. They lay
very low in the water, their bows rising only 9 feet above it, while the
stern was even lower, being only 4 and a half feet above the waterline.
Amidships, however, the deck was raised some 6 or 8 feet higher.
Between the two turrets was a large superstructure, the walls of which
curved outwards all over the top. A passage passed through it from side
to side, in which were the doors leading to the hatchways and to the
hurricane deck above, on which were the conning tower, wheels, etcetera.
The boats were also carried on this deck, high above the water, so that
there was no obstruction to the firing of the guns in the turrets below.
It might have been supposed, that a ship so low in the water could not
venture out to sea in rough weather, but, though her forecastle was
frequently completely submerged in a heavy sea, she has behaved very
well.
Other turret ships, however, had been built a year or two earlier with
masts and sails, and bows of ordinary height. At first these ships were
over-masted and canvassed, but after one of them, the _Captain_,
capsized during a gale in the Bay of Biscay, this defect was remedied.
This class was represented by the _Monarch_, completed in 1869, a vessel
of 8930 tons, and 15 knots speed. She carried seven guns, those in the
turrets weighing 25 tons.
The turret-ship reached its highest development in the year 1876, when
the _Inflexible_ was designed. By this time, guns had so greatly
increased in power, that the thickness of armour required to withstand
their shot was very great, and, as this involved an enormous addition to
the dead weight that had to be carried, some means had to be devised
whereby an efficient protection could be carried. The "central citadel"
form of design was that finally adopted, in which the armour was
concentrated on a citadel in the centre of the vessel, amply protecting
the engines, turrets, and other "vitals" of the ship, the rest of the
hull being left wholly unprotected, save for a "protective deck," about
the level of the waterline. This deck being horizontal, would always be
struck by shot at a very oblique angle, hence its thickness afforded a
much greater amount of protection--about double--than if placed
vertically on the sides.
The _Inflexible_ was a ship of 11,800 tons, and was driven at a speed of
nearly 13 knots, by engines of 6,500 horse-power. The turrets were
arranged one on each side of the ship, and thus enabled to fire both
ahead and astern or on the broadside. These turrets were protected by
armour 18 inches thick, and each carried two 80-ton guns, firing a
1700-pound shot to a distance of eight miles. These monster
muzzle-loading guns were loaded from outside the turret, by means of
hydraulic machinery. The armour on the sides was 2 feet thick, and the
vessel was divided into 135 compartments, so that she would not be
readily sunk. The _Inflexible_ was the last of the turret-ships
properly so-called. She was not the success that had been hoped; her
engine power, which gave only 12 and a half knots, had been sacrificed
to obtain heavier armament and protection, and as she was slower than
much older ships, she was laid aside before vessels launched earlier
than she was. About this time, the combination of several important
factors worked a revolution in warship design. The Russo-Turkish war of
1878-79, taught that a torpedo was a more important element in naval
warfare than had been imagined. Launches going at the rate of 18 or 20
miles an hour, covered a mile in about three minutes, and if they
attacked at night, were so small, quick-moving, and indistinguishable,
that they could attack the most powerful battleship with little risk of
being hit by the snap shots of the few slow-firing heavy guns, with
which modern ships were armed.
The machine gun was first introduced to meet this danger; it could send
a continuous shower of rifle bullets at the approaching boat, and riddle
and sink her before she got near enough to do mischief; but when torpedo
boats began to be armoured with iron plates, proof not only against
rifle bullets, but even against the heavier Hotchkiss and Nordenfeldt
half-pounder guns, except at very close ranges, it was seen that an
armament of small guns was desirable to repel torpedo boats, or to be
used against unarmoured cruisers, whose superior speed would soon take
them out of danger from the slow-firing heavy guns. Another factor was
the introduction of longer guns, and what are termed "slow burning"
powders. These last do not explode with such sudden violence as the
ordinary powder, so that there is less sudden strain on the gun, while a
steadier pressure on the shot is kept up. The long gun enables the
pressure of the gases formed by the burning powder to act longer on the
shot, with the result that a higher velocity is given to it, not only
increasing its range, but also its penetrative power.
The result of these improvements was to some extent a repetition of what
had taken place when rifled guns were first introduced. Guns could be
made lighter, and yet be much more powerful than the old patterns of the
same bore, and it was seen that a ship could with advantage be provided
with a "secondary" armament, as it is called of these smaller yet
powerful guns. Armour, too, was being improved, so that it could be
made thinner and yet equally effective; higher speeds were also called
for, and it was evident that warships must be designed on different
lines to meet or take advantage of the new conditions.
The first ship designed on the new lines was the _Collingwood_, a vessel
of 9,500 tons, 16 and a half knots speed, and 7,000 horse-power. She
was the first ship of what was called the "Admiral class,"--several
sister ships named after famous admirals. The four heavy guns of the
_Devastation_ type of turret-ship were retained, mounted fore and aft,
but instead of placing them in turrets, the turret armour was fixed to
the deck, forming what is known as a "barbette," or breastwork, over the
upper edge of which the gun fired. Inside the barbette the gun revolved
on its turn-table; its breech, together with the gunners, was protected
by a hood of armour which revolved with the gun. This arrangement is
probably less liable to be knocked out of action by the enemy's shot
than the turret.
Amidships was the "secondary" armament of six 6-inch breech-loading
guns. All the guns were mounted well above the water, enabling them to
be used even in a heavy sea, which could not be done in the case of
ships lying low in the water like the _Devastation_.
A further impetus was given to the development of the secondary armament
by the introduction of "smokeless" powder--which, however, gives a
_very_ slight smoke,--and the "quick-firing gun." By simplifying the
breech mechanism, using metal cartridge cases for the ammunition instead
of silk bags--which necessitated the sponging out of the piece after
each shot to remove the smouldering fragments--arranging the "sights" of
the gun so that it could be aimed while loading was going on, and other
ingenious arrangements, it was found that 6-inch 100-pounder guns could
be fired many times per minute without any mechanical appliances. About
the same time also, means were found of firing with safety what are
called "high explosives," that is, explosives of far greater destructive
power than the same weight of gunpowder. Similar improvements were
naturally extended to the larger guns, and thus there has been a
reversion to the type of ships mounting a fair number of guns, the
lighter ones, firing shells of 100 pounds, being intended to wreck the
unarmoured portions of the enemy, and demoralise his crew; the heavier
ones, 200-pounders, 380-pounders, and 850-pounders, being adapted to
pierce the armour and destroy the guns or the machinery. Some idea of
the terrible power of modern quick-fire guns may be obtained when it is
mentioned that a modern ship, armed with _one_ 6-inch 100-pounder gun
could fire--and hit every time too, at three-quarters-of-a-mile range--a
greater weight of metal per minute than could be kept up by the 52 guns
on the broadside of Nelson's _Victory_, or even by the broadside of the
more modern _Britannia_.
Such are the types of the principal battleships constructed up to nearly
the end of the nineteenth century, and we may now glance at the
cruisers.
The frigate of the olden days, used for scouting and cruising, was the
favourite ship in the great wars, as they bore off the greatest
proportion of prize-money, and afforded their commanders greater
opportunities of gaining promotion and distinction. As already
mentioned, the French built faster and finer craft of this description
than we did, and Nelson was always complaining that we had not a
sufficient number of swift frigates to keep down whose of the enemy.
The frigates had from 28 to 50 guns, and did not vary much in general
design, although the Americans taught us to build them of larger size
and of thicker planking. When steam was introduced, engines were fitted
to these cruisers, and they were given a few knots superior speed to the
line-of-battle-ships. To enable them to keep the sea for long periods
without their bottoms becoming fouled by marine growths--which decrease
the speed--their iron hulls were sheathed wood, which in its turn was
covered by copper. Ships of this type were not armoured. The _Shah_,
which fought the _Huascar_ in 1877, was a ship of this description; she
carried 26 heavy guns, and had a speed of 16 knots.
Other vessels were specially designed as rams. The sinking of the
powerful battleships _Vanguard_, in the Irish sea, and _Victoria_, in
the Mediterranean, after accidental collision with the ram of another
ship in the squadron, shows the terrible effect of this weapon when it
can strike home. But torpedoes render it highly improbable that the
opportunity of using it will ever arise. Modern naval battles will
probably be fought and decided, at the _minimum_ range of 2 miles, or
thereby.