HMS Warrior (1860)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Warrior.
HMS warriorjune20092.jpg
HMS Warrior
Career (UK)
Name: HMS Warrior
Ordered: 11 May 1859
Builder: Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co., Blackwall, London
Cost: £377,292
Laid down: 25 May 1859
Launched: 29 December 1860
Commissioned: 1 August 1861
Status: Museum ship
General characteristics
Class & type: Warrior-class armoured frigate
Displacement: 9,137 long tons (9,284 t)
Length: 420 ft (128.0 m) (o/a)
Beam: 58 ft 4 in (17.8 m)
Draught: 26 ft 10 in (8.2 m)
Installed power: 5,772 ihp (4,304 kW)
10 rectangular boilers
Propulsion: 1 shaft, 1 Trunk steam engine
Sail plan: Ship rig
Speed: 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Range: 2,100 nmi (3,900 km; 2,400 mi) at 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement: 707 officers and enlisted men
Armament:
Armour: Belt: 4.5 in (114 mm)
Bulkheads: 4.5 in (114 mm)

HMS Warrior was the name ship of her class of two armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy in 1859–61. She and her sister ship HMS Black Prince were the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warships; they were built in response to the first ironclad ocean-going warship, the wooden-hulled French ironclad Gloire, launched in 1859. Warrior spent her active career with the Channel Fleet and was hulked in 1883 after having been in 1st class reserve since 1875. She served as a storeship and depot ship before she was assigned to Royal Navy's torpedo training school in 1904. The ship was converted into a floating oil jetty in 1927 and remained in that role until 1979 when restoration began. Listed as part of the National Historic Fleet,[1] she is now a museum ship in Portsmouth, England.

Contents

Background[edit]

The launching of the steam-powered ship of the line Napoléon by France in 1850 began an arms race between France and Great Britain that lasted through the decade. The destruction of Russian coastal fortifications during the Battle of Kinburn during the Crimean War by French armored floating batteries and multiple tests of armour plates in the late 1850s showed that unarmored ships could easily be destroyed by ironclads that could not be damaged by their guns. The launching of Gloire upset the existing balance of power by neutralising the British investment in wooden ships of the line[2] and started an invasion scare in Britain. Warrior and her sister were ordered in response to these events.[3]

Design and description[edit]

The Warrior-class design used many well-proven technologies that had been used in ocean-going ships for years, notably the iron hull, steam engine, and screw propeller, only the wrought-iron armour was a major technological advance. Naval architect and historian David K. Brown wrote, "What made [Warrior] truly novel was the way in which these individual aspects were blended together, making her the biggest and most powerful warship in the world."[4] To minimise risk Chief Constructor of the Navy Isaac Watts copied the hull design of the large wooden frigate HMS Mersey, modifying it for iron construction and to accommodate an armoured box, or citadel, amidships to protect most of the ship's guns that stretched the length of the single gun deck.[5] Ships with this configuration of guns and armor are classified as broadside ironclads.[6]

Although built in response to Gloire, the Warriors had a very different concept of operation to the French ship, which was meant as a replacement for wooden ships of the line. They were designed by Watts as 40-gun armoured frigates and were not intended to stand in the line of battle, as the Admiralty was uncertain about their ability to withstand concentrated fire from wooden two and three-deck ships of the line. Unlike Gloire, they were planned to be fast enough to force battle on a fleeing enemy and to control the range at which a battle was fought to their own advantage.[7]

HMS Warrior was 380 feet 2 inches (115.9 m) long between perpendiculars and 420 feet (128.0 m) long overall. She had a beam of 58 feet 4 inches (17.8 m) and a draught of 26 feet 9 inches (8.2 m). The ship displaced 9,137 long tons (9,284 t) and had a tonnage of 6,109 tons burthen.[8] The ends of the hull was subdivided by numerous watertight transverse bulkheads into 92 compartments and had a double bottom underneath the engine and boiler rooms.[9]

One significant defect of the Warrior-class design was that the ships were not very manoeuverable. Their great length,[10] coupled with a small 160 square feet (15 m2) rudder[11] with limited range of motion that was also slow to respond to commands from the ship's wheels, meant that they were very awkward to handle. Hydraulic-powered steering gear was evaluated aboard in 1863 and was a failure. Steam steering gear was installed in 1879.[12]

The ship's crew numbered 50 officers and 656 enlisted men in 1863.[13] The officers were berthed in the rear of the ship, generally in small cabins. The crewmen slept in hammocks slung from the sides and deck beams, with up to 18 men crammed between each pair of guns.[14] Of these enlisted men, 122 were Royal Marines. As an experiment, all of the marines were from Royal Marine Artillery during the ship's first commission, but subsequently a number of marine infantrymen were assigned as was the usual practice. The marines manned the aft section of guns and slung their hammocks between the crew and the officer's cabins.[15]

Propulsion[edit]

The Warrior-class ships had a single two-cylinder trunk steam engine made by John Penn and Sons driving a single 24-foot-6-inch (7.5 m) propeller.[16] Ten rectangular boilers[6] provided steam to the engine at a working pressure of 20 psi (138 kPa; 1 kgf/cm2). The engine produced a total of 5,772 indicated horsepower (4,304 kW) during Warrior's sea trials on 1 April 1868 and the ship had a speed of 14.079 knots (26.074 km/h; 16.202 mph) under steam alone.[17] The ship carried 853 long tons (867 t)[18] of coal, enough to steam 2,100 nautical miles (3,900 km; 2,400 mi) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph).[19]

The ironclads were ship rigged and had a sail area of 48,400 square feet (4,497 m2). Warrior reached 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) under sail, 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) faster than her sister ship Black Prince. Her 26-long-ton (26 t)[18] propeller was designed to be hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag while under sail; the largest hoisting propeller ever made, it required 600 men to raise it into the stern.[19] To further reduce drag, both of her funnels were telescopic and could be lowered.[20] Under sail and steam together, the ship once reached 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph) against the tide whilst running from Portsmouth to Plymouth.[21]

Armament[edit]

One of the replica 110-pounder breech-loaders on the restored Warrior

The armament of the Warrior-class ships was intended to be 40 smoothbore, muzzle-loading 68-pounder guns, 19 on each side on the main deck and one each fore and aft as chase guns on the upper deck. This was modified during construction to 10 rifled breech-loading (RBL) Armstrong seven-inch, 110-pounder guns, twenty-six 68-pounders, and four RBL Armstrong 40-pounder guns. It had been planned to replace all the 68-pounders with seven-inch Armstrong guns, but poor results in testing brought a halt to this plan.[22]

The 7.9-inch (201 mm) solid shot of the 68-pounder gun weighed approximately 68 pounds (30.8 kg) while the gun itself weighed 10,640 pounds (4,826.2 kg). The gun had a muzzle velocity of 1,579 ft/s (481 m/s) and had a range of 3,200 yards (2,900 m) at an elevation of 12°. The seven inch (180 mm) shell of the 110-pounder Armstrong breech-loader weighed 107–110 pounds (48.5–49.9 kg). It had a muzzle velocity of 1,150 ft/s (350 m/s) and, at an elevation of 11.25°, a maximum range of 4,000 yards (3,700 m). The shell of the 40-pounder breech-loading gun was 4.75 inches (121 mm) in diameter and weighed 40 pounds (18.1 kg). The gun had a maximum range of 3,800 yards (3,500 m). All of the guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells. The 68-pounder could also fire special hollow iron shells that were filled with molten iron heated in a furnace located between the two forward boilers.[23]

The ship also carried two RBL Armstrong 20-pounders and one RBL Armstrong 12-pounder, largely intended for use in the ship's boats or for use as field guns, although they were mounted for use on board. Finally, a 6-pounder brass cannon was carried for practice use.[24]

The 40-pounder Armstrong guns were replaced with a better design of the same calibre in 1863.[24] Warrior's original armament was replaced during her 1867–68 refit with 24 seven-inch and four 8-inch (203 mm) rifled muzzle-loading guns. The ship also received four 20-pounder breech-loading guns for use as saluting guns.[25] The shell of the 15-calibre eight-inch gun weighed 175 pounds (79.4 kg) while the gun itself weighed nine long tons ( t). It had a muzzle velocity of 1,410 ft/s (430 m/s) and was credited with the ability to penetrate a 9.6 inches (244 mm) of wrought iron armour at the muzzle. The 16-calibre seven-inch gun weighed 6.5 long tons (6.6 t) and fired a 112-pound (50.8 kg) shell that was able penetrate 7.7-inch (196 mm) of armour.[26]

Armour[edit]

Cross section of Warrior's bulkhead armour. Iron on the right backed by teak.

Warrior's armour consisted 4.5 inches (114 mm) of wrought iron backed by 18 inches (457 mm) of teak. The iron armour was made up of plates 3 feet by 12 feet that interlocked via the tongue and groove method. It was bolted through the teak to the iron hull. The teak consisted of two 9-inch-thick (229 mm) layers laid at right angles to each other. The teak served to strengthen the armour by damping the shock waves caused by the impact of shells that would otherwise break the bolts that connected the armour to the hull.[27] Based on tests at Shoeburyness in October 1861 when the Warrior was launched, it "was practically invulnerable to the ordnance at the time in use".[28]

The armour covered the middle 213 feet (64.9 m) of the ship and extended 16 feet (4.9 m) above the waterline and 6 feet (1.8 m) below it. 4.5-inch transverse bulkheads protected the guns on the main deck from raking fire. The ends of the ship were left entirely unprotected, although they were subdivided into watertight compartments to minimise flooding. The lack of armour at the stern meant that the steering gear was very vulnerable.[25] Another weakness was that the armour became more brittle at lower temperatures and thus less resistant to impacts.[29]

Construction and service[edit]

Warrior was ordered on 11 May 1859[30] from Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. in Blackwall, London. The ship was laid down sometime after 6 June 1859 when the P&O ocean liner Seine was launched and the slipway was reinforced to take Warrior's weight. Full-scale production of the ship's iron only began in August and the most likely time for the beginning of construction was mid-August. Indecision by the Admiralty caused many delays and nearly drove her builders bankrupt before a grant of £50,000 was awarded to keep them solvent.[31] The coldest winter in 50 years caused problems during her launching on 29 December 1860 as she froze to her slipway and required additional tugs and hydraulic rams before the dockworkers could rock her free by running from side to side.[32] Warrior was commissioned in August 1861 to conduct her sea trials, although she was not completed until 24 October[30] for the price of £377,292,[33] almost twice the cost of a wooden ship of the line.[34] Between March and June 1862, defects exposed during her trials were rectified, and damage received during the trials repaired. Changes included the fitting of a lighter bowsprit and a shorter jib boom, along with the provision of extra heads amidships.[35]

Initially under the command of Captain Arthur Cochrane, the ship was assigned to the Channel Squadron. In March 1863, Warrior escorted the royal yacht that brought Princess Alexandra of Denmark to Britain to marry the Prince of Wales.[36] The princess appreciated the conduct of the ship's crew so much that she requested that that Admiral Sir Michael Seymour convey the message that "she was much pleased" to the ship. Cochrane ordered that her message be engraved on a brass plate fitted to the ship's steering wheel. In mid-1863 the Channel Fleet toured a number of British ports for 12 weeks where the ship was the centre of attention, receiving a total of about 300,000 visitors, including as many as 13,000 a day when in port.[37]

A painting of Warrior under sail

Warrior began a refit in November 1864 during which the defective Armstrong guns were removed and her armament was upgraded to the latest rifled muzzle-loading guns. She was briefly commissioned with the intent of becoming guardship at Queenstown, Ireland, and appeared in the 1867 Fleet Review. This commission was cancelled after 24 days when the Admiralty reconsidered, and on 25 July she was again recommissioned under Captain Henry Boys. After working up at Spithead, she sailed to join the Channel Squadron on 24 September. In 1865 she was deployed to Osborne Bay to guard Queen Victoria at Osborne House. This was not merely an honorary guard, since this was the year of the Fenian Rising, and there was intelligence suggesting that the Queen might be in danger from Irish nationalists. At some point whilst Warrior was performing this duty, the ship received an informal visit from the Queen. The ship was part of a squadron that escorted the royal yacht HMY Victoria and Albert II to Dublin in April 1868 for an official visit by the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. In August, cruising to Scotland, Warrior collided with HMS Royal Oak, losing her figurehead and jib boom and smashing Royal Oak's cutter. Boys was court-martialled and acquitted over the incident.[38]

From 4 to 28 July 1868, Warrior, together with Black Prince and the wooden paddle frigate HMS Terrible, was employed to tow a specially built floating drydock 2,700 nmi (5,000 km; 3,100 mi) across the Atlantic from Madeira to Bermuda. Upon her return to England in late August, Boys was relieved by Captain Frederick Stirling. After a refit to have her bottom cleaned and the figurehead lost in the collision with Royal Oak replaced, Warrior rejoined the Channel Squadron. On 2 March 1870, Captain Henry Glyn assumed command of the ship. Whilst returning from a joint cruise with the Mediterranean Fleet, the ship was present when HMS Captain was lost during a severe storm on 7 September. Further cruises followed, including trips to Madeira and Gibraltar.[39] While departing Gibraltar, Warrior was following HMS Agincourt when the latter ship grounded on Pearl Rock, and narrowly missed colliding with her.[40]

Warrior's gun deck after restoration

The rapid evolution of warship design, for which Warrior was partly responsible, meant that she started to become obsolete only ten years after she had been launched. In 1871, HMS Devastation, the Royal Navy’s first mastless capital ship was commissioned.[41] In the same year,Warrior began a refit that lasted until 1875, that added a new poop deck and steam capstan, a shorter bowsprit, and replacement boilers.[42] In April 1875, the ship was recommissioned, now assigned to the First Reserve, where she served as a guardship at Portland.[40] In this role, she went on yearly summer cruises to various ports. In 1878 she was mobilised in reaction to concerns that Russia might be about to attack Constantinople, but this did not happen, and Warrior cruised to Bantry Bay. In April 1881 she was transferred to the Clyde District, where she served as guardship until 31 May 1883.[43]

Warrior was then used as a storage hulk and, from 1902 to 1904, as a depot ship for a flotilla of destroyers. Her name was changed to HMS Vernon III in March 1904, a month after she joined Portsmouth-based Vernon, the Royal Navy's torpedo training school. Her role was supplying steam and electricity to the neighbouring hulks that made up Vernon. In October 1923, the school was transferred to a newly built shore installation, rendering Warrior and her companion hulks redundant; the Royal Navy put her up for sale in 1924.[44]

The mass scrapping of obsolete ships after World War I had caused a downturn in demand for scrap iron by the time the Navy decided to sell off Warrior. There was no commercial interest in the old ship, and she remained at Portsmouth for another five years, although she was modified into a mooring jetty in 1927. The hulk was towed to her new home, Pembroke Dock, Wales, in March 1929. Upon arrival, she served as a floating oil jetty known from 1942 as Oil Fuel Hulk C77. For the next fifty years, the ship lay just offshore from an oil depot at Llanion Cove, occasionally being towed to a nearby dry dock for maintenance work and additionally serving as a base ship for coastal minesweepers in World War II.[45] She refuelled some 5,000 ships during her service at Llanion Cove.[46]

Restoration[edit]

The reproduced captain's day cabin

Warrior was saved from being scrapped by the efforts of the Maritime Trust, led by John Smith MP. As the world's first iron-hulled armoured warship, she was recognised as one of the Royal Navy's most historically important warships. In 1968 the Duke of Edinburgh chaired a meeting that considered the possibility of rescuing and restoring Warrior, and a year later the Maritime Trust was established with a view to saving the decrepit ironclad and other historic ships. Throughout the 1970s, the Trust carried out negotiations and feasibility studies regarding Warrior, and finally obtained control of the ship in August 1979.[47] Ownership was transferred to the Ship's Preservation Trust in 1983, which became the Warrior Preservation Trust in 1985.[48]

Restoration of Warrior as a museum ship began in August 1979, when she began her 800-mile (1,300 km) journey to her temporary home in the Coal Dock at Hartlepool, where the £3 million restoration project was carried out, largely funded by the Manifold Trust. The ship arrived in Hartlepool on 2 September 1979.[47] Over the next eight years, Warrior's decks, interior compartments, engines, woodwork and fittings were restored or recreated, her masts, rigging and funnels were recreated,[49] and a new figurehead was carved using photographs of the original (destroyed in the 1960s) as a guide.[50] The restored ironclad was renamed HMS Warrior (1860) to avoid confusion with the Northwood Headquarters, commissioned as HMS Warrior in the early 1960s, which was at the time the operational headquarters of the Royal Navy.[45]

Museum ship[edit]

Preparations for Warrior's arrival in Portsmouth began in 1985, when a new berth beside Portsmouth Harbour railway station was dredged and a new hard was constructed at an estimated cost of £1.5 million. The ship left Hartlepool on 12 June 1987 and was towed 390 miles to the Solent where she arrived four days later. That afternoon she was towed into Portsmouth Harbour and welcomed by thousands of people lining the town walls and shore, and over 90 boats and ships.[51][52] She officially opened as a museum on 27 July.[53]

Warrior is part of the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard complex, which is also the home of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson's flagship HMS Victory and the Tudor warship Mary Rose.[54] In 1995 she received just over 280,000 visitors and the whole dockyard receives between 400,000 and 500,000 visitors annually.[55] Although part of the dockyard, Warrior is still managed by the Warrior Preservation Trust.[56] and as well as being open daily as a museum, she is a venue for weddings and functions. Income generated from these events funds the trust's work.[57] The trust also has an collection of material related to the ship, as well as an archive, although the latter is not yet open to the public.[58]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "HMS Warrior". National Historic Ships UK. Retrieved 9 April 2013. 
  2. ^ Baxter 1968, pp. 120–27
  3. ^ Parkes 1990, p. 6
  4. ^ Brown 2003, p. 12
  5. ^ Lambert 1987, pp. 20–23
  6. ^ a b Chesneau & Kolesnik 1979, p. 7
  7. ^ Lambert 1987, pp. 18, 20–21
  8. ^ Ballard 1980, p. 241
  9. ^ Parkes 1990, pp. 17–18
  10. ^ Ballard 1980, p. 51
  11. ^ Lambert 1987, pp. 129
  12. ^ Wells 1987, pp. 64, 129, 162
  13. ^ Wells 1987, p. 212
  14. ^ "Life on Board". HMS Warrior Preservation Trust. Retrieved 3 June 2013. 
  15. ^ Wells 1987, pp. 81–82
  16. ^ Ballard 1980, p. 246
  17. ^ Ballard 1980, pp. 246–47
  18. ^ a b Wells 1987, p. 59
  19. ^ a b Parkes 1990, pp. 20–21
  20. ^ Lambert 1987, p. 108
  21. ^ Parkes 1990, p. 21
  22. ^ Lambert 1987, p. 82
  23. ^ Lambert 1987, pp. 85–87, 89, 102
  24. ^ a b Lambert 1987, p. 85
  25. ^ a b Parkes 1990, p. 19
  26. ^ Chesneau & Kolesnik 1979, p. 6
  27. ^ Lambert 1987, pp. 67, 69
  28. ^ Appletons' Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year: 1862. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863. p. 621. 
  29. ^ Lambert 1987, pp. 70–71
  30. ^ a b Ballard 1980, p. 240
  31. ^ Lambert 2010, pp. 34, 37
  32. ^ "Construction - Launch". HMS Warrior Preservation Trust. Retrieved 23 May 2013. 
  33. ^ Parkes 1990, p. 16
  34. ^ "Construction - Building". HMS Warrior Preservation Trust. Retrieved 23 May 2013. 
  35. ^ Wells 1987, pp. 111
  36. ^ Ballard 1980, p. 55
  37. ^ Wells 1987, pp. 119, 123–28
  38. ^ Wells 1987, pp. 138–43
  39. ^ Wells 1987, pp. 144–54
  40. ^ a b Ballard 1980, p. 56
  41. ^ Lambert 2010, p. 44
  42. ^ Lambert 2010, p. 49
  43. ^ Lambert 2010, pp. 49–51
  44. ^ Brown 2009, p. 85
  45. ^ a b Lambert 2010, p. 53
  46. ^ "Obsolescence — Llanion Cove". HMS Warrior Preservation Trust. Retrieved 28 March 2013. 
  47. ^ a b Lambert 2010, pp. 56–57
  48. ^ "Restoration". HMS Warrior Preservation Trust. Retrieved 12 May 2013. 
  49. ^ "Restoration - Hartlepool". HMS Warrior Preservation Trust. Retrieved 23 May 2013. 
  50. ^ Lambert 2010, pp. 172–74
  51. ^ Winton 1987, p. 76
  52. ^ "Restoration — Homecoming". HMS Warrior Preservation Trust. Retrieved 28 March 2013. 
  53. ^ Winton 1987, p. 84
  54. ^ "HMS Warrior 1860". Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Retrieved 9 April 2013. 
  55. ^ Statistics newsletter (61), Portsmouth City Council, Winter 2000–01, p. 16, retrieved 28 January 2010 
  56. ^ "About Us". HMS Warrior Preservation Trust. Retrieved 22 May 2013. 
  57. ^ "Wedding Brochure". HMS Warrior Preservation Trust. Retrieved 28 March 2013. 
  58. ^ "Collection & Archive". HMS Warrior Preservation Trust. Retrieved 10 June 2013. 

Bibliography[edit]

  • Ballard, G. A., Admiral (1980). The Black Battlefleet. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-924-3. 
  • Baxter, James Phinney, 3rd (1968). The Introduction of the Ironclad Warship (reprint of the 1933 ed.). Archon Books. 
  • Brown, David K. (2003). Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860–1905 (reprint of the 1997 ed.). London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-529-2. 
  • Brown, Paul (2009). Britain's Historic Ships: The Ships That Shaped a Nation: A Complete Guide. London: Anova Books. ISBN 978-1-84486-093-7. 
  • Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4. 
  • Lambert, Andrew (2010). HMS Warrior 1860: Victoria's Ironclad Deterrent (2nd revised and expanded ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-382-6. 
  • Lambert, Andrew (1987). Warrior: Restoring the World’s First Ironclad. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-411-3. 
  • Parkes, Oscar (1990). British Battleships (reprint of the 1957 ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-075-4. 
  • Wells, John (1987). The Immortal Warrior Britain’s First and Last Battleship. Emsworth, UK: Kenneth Mason. ISBN 0-85937-333-9. 
  • Winton, John (1987). Warrior: The First and The Last. Liskeard, Cornwall, UK: Maritime Books. ISBN 0-907771-34-3. 

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: HMS Warrior (ship, 1860)

Coordinates: 50°47′53.88″N 1°06′33.84″W / 50.7983000°N 1.1094000°W / 50.7983000; -1.1094000

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMS_Warrior_(1860)&oldid=560404664"