WARSHIP 



6182 



WARSHIP 



Sovereign of the Seas, the first three-decker. 

 or ship-of-the-line, was completed. For nearly 

 two centuries i his was the standard type of war- 

 ship of the British navy. The Victory, Nel- 

 son's flagship at Trafalgar (which see), was 

 one of the most famous of ships of this pat- 

 tern. 



The warships of other nations were practi- 

 cally of the same pattern as those of England. 



The United States. The United States had 

 only a few small warships during the Revolu- 

 tionary War. Its navy first attracted notice 

 in the service it rendered the world in subdu- 

 ing the pirates of the Barbary states. Previous 

 to the introduction of ironclads the frigate was 

 the type of ship that made the United States 

 navy respected throughout the world. It was 



built of wood, and the only change in pattern 

 was such as became necessary to adapt the 

 ship to steam propulsion. The introduction of 

 steam led to the construction of steam gun- 

 boats and mortar boats, which were first used 

 in the Crimean War. 



Ironclad Warships. Many attempts to pro- 

 tect warships had been made previous to the 

 War of Secession, but no practical advantage 

 seems to have been gained. In 1862 the duel 

 between the Monitor and the Mtrrimac in 

 Hampton Roads turned the tide in favor of 

 the ironclad, or armored, ship. This battle was 

 another epoch-making event in the naval his- 

 tory of the world, although in 1858 the French 

 began the construction of an armored frigale 

 of the first class. 



1 L 



TYPES OF BRITISH AND GERMAN ARMAMENT 



At left, British dreadnauerht type of battleship, with thirty-eight guns, twenty of them being 12- 

 inch. At right, a. German dreadnaught, with forty guns. Twelve of these are 12.2-inch, eighteen are 

 C-inch. and the remainder relatively small. 



vJ 111 I/. 



"71 I I \ PT 



TWO ARMAMENTS IN THE AMERICAN NAVY 



At left, the battleship Arizona, with thirty-two guns, twelve of which are 14-inch monsters, 

 right, an older ship, the Michigan, with thirty guns, eight of which are 12-inch. 



At 



with ships of this type that the sea fights of 

 the War of 1812 were won. These ships car- 

 ried from forty to fifty guns. They were fast 

 sailers and quick to obey the helm, and they 

 had a decided advantage over the heavier and 

 less easily managed ships of European nations. 

 Use of Steam. The use of steam as a motive 

 power for warships was attempted soon after 

 the invention of the steamboat. However, but 

 little progress was made until after the inven- 

 tion of the screw propeller, because in the side- 

 wheeler both engine and paddle wheel were so 

 exposed that a single shot from the enemy 

 might render the ship useless. The invention of 

 the screw propeller, therefore, was the means of 

 revolutionizing naval warfare throughout the 

 world. The first successful steam warship was 

 the Napoleon of the French navy, completed 

 in 1849. It carried 100 guns and had engines 

 of 600 horse power. Within a few years all 

 the great navies had transformed their ships 

 into steam warships. All men-of-war were still 



In 1861 the United States built a number of 

 gunboats for use on the Mississippi. Previous 

 to their construction all armored ships had 

 been of the same type as the wooden ships. 

 The Mississippi gunboats were constructed on 

 an entirely different plan, and from their shape 

 were known as turtlebacks. Then the Monitor 

 with its revolving turret appeared, proving that 

 an entirely different pattern of armored ship 

 was possible. No further advancement, how- 

 ever, occurred during the War of Secession. 



Armor Plate. The big gun led to the pro- 

 tection of warships by metal plates. As guns 

 increased in size and power, the demand for 

 such protection became more and more impera- 

 tive, and with the introduction of shell fire the 

 old-style wooden warship became useless in the 

 line of battle. The first plate used was four 

 and one-half and four and three-fourths inches 

 thick. This was laid over oak sides, usually 

 twenty-six inches in thickness. Within a short 

 time, however, guns were made with sufficient 



