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Defender-class Torpedo Boat
The colonial service ''Defender''-class torpedo boats were designed by Thornycroft & Company for the defence of New Zealand, built at Chiswick in 1883 and shipped to New Zealand. They were quickly obsolete and were left to deteriorate ''in situ''. The remains of ''Defender'' are preserved at the Lyttelton Torpedo Boat Museum. Construction Acquired for the external defence of New Zealand, at a cost of about £3,200 each, all four boats were built and engined by John I. Thornycroft & Company at Church Wharf, Chiswick on the River Thames.Winfield (2004) p.316 Armament As built the class was armed with a single McEvoy spar torpedo, which was designed to be rammed into a vessel and explode beneath the waterline. A single 2-barrelled Nordenfelt gun comprised the total gun armament. The last pair had 18-inch Whitehead torpedoes fitted at build, and these were later retrofitted to ''Defender'' and ''Taiaroa''. Transport to New Zealand On 1 February 1884 the first pair were shipped a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Defender (1883)
HMS ''Defender'' was a second-class colonial-service torpedo boat built in 1883 for service in New Zealand and abandoned at Lyttelton sometime after 1900. Her remains are today displayed at the Lyttelton Torpedo Boat Museum. Construction She was acquired, with 3 similar second-class torpedo boats, for the external defence of New Zealand, at a cost of about £3,200 each. All four boats were built and engined by John I. Thornycroft & Company at Church Wharf, Chiswick on the River Thames. ''Defender'' was launched on 30 July 1883 and was commissioned for trials on 18 September the same year. Armament As built she was armed with a single McEvoy spar torpedo, which was designed to be rammed into a vessel and explode beneath the waterline. A single 2-barrelled Nordenfelt machine gun comprised the total gun armament. Transport to New Zealand On 1 February 1884 they were shipped aboard the sailing ship ''Lyttelton'' from London to Port Chalmers, NZ. By December 1884 she had been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spar Torpedo
A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at the end, so it would stick to wooden hulls. A fuse could then be used to detonate it. Invention Robert Fulton had written about submarine (i.e., subsurface) marine torpedoes in 1810, and experiments were conducted using spar torpedoes that year. Boats carrying spar torpedoes were used during the War of 1812. E. C. Singer, a private engineer who worked on secret projects for the benefit of the Confederate States of America, constructed a spar torpedo during the American Civil War. His torpedo was detonated by means of a trigger mechanism adapted from a rifle lock (see flintlock mechanism for a similar device). The spring-loaded trigger was detonated by means of a long cord attached to the attacking vessel. The attacking vessel rammed its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Naval Vessels Of New Zealand
A range of naval vessels were used in New Zealand from its early settlement years to the formation of the New Zealand Naval Forces in 1913. In the mid-19th century, these vessels included frigates, sloops, schooners, and steam-driven paddlewheel boats. In 1846, five years after New Zealand was first proclaimed a colony, it bought its first gunboat. In the 1840s and 1850s, steam boats were used to survey the ports and the coastline. In the 1860s, New Zealand established the Waikato flotilla, its first ''de facto'' navy. By the late 19th century, New Zealand was using cruisers and torpedo boats. In the 1880s, in response to the Russian scares, coastal defences were established, a mine-laying steamer was ordered, and spar torpedo boats began patrolling the main ports. In 1911, New Zealand funded the construction of a battlecruiser, and in 1913, the New Zealand Naval Forces were created as a separate division within the Royal Navy. Early settlers Polynesian settlers The initi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metro area, and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed. Legends recount that Kupe discovered and explored the region in about the 10th century, with initial settlement by Māori iwi such as Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. The disruptions of the Musket Wars led to them being overwhelmed by northern iwi such as Te Āti Awa by the early 19th century. Wellington's current form was originally designed by Captain William Mein Smith, the first Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company, in 1840. The Wellington urban area, which only includes urbanised ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devonport, New Zealand
Devonport ( ) is a harbourside suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on the North Shore, at the southern end of a peninsula that runs southeast from near Lake Pupuke in Takapuna, forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. East of Devonport lies North Head, the northern promontory guarding the mouth of the harbour. The suburb hosts the Devonport Naval Base of the Royal New Zealand Navy, the main facility for the country's naval vessels, but is best known for its harbourside dining and drinking establishments and its heritage charm. Devonport has been compared to Sausalito, California, US due to its setting and scenery.In Auckland, Life Is Alfresco' – ''The New York Times'', 5 October 1997 Character The Devonport shops contain a variety of antique, gift and bookshops, and a number of cafes and restaurants, making it a popular destination for tourists and Aucklanders. Day trips combining a meal in Devonport with a trip up Mount Victoria or an exploration ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyttelton, New Zealand
Lyttelton (Māori: ''Ōhinehou'') is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō, at the northwestern end of Banks Peninsula and close to Christchurch, on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. As a landing point for Christchurch-bound seafarers, Lyttelton has historically been regarded as the "Gateway to Canterbury" for colonial settlers. Until the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the port has been a regular destination for cruise ships. It is the South Island's principal goods-transport terminal, handling 34% of exports and 61% of imports by value. In 2009 Lyttelton was awarded Category I Historic Area status by the Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) defined as "an area of special or outstanding historical or cultural heritage significance or value", not long before much of the historic fabric was destroyed in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Location Lyttelton is the largest settlement on Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō, an inlet on the northwe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve
The Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNZNVR) is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). History Early history The first Naval Volunteer units were formed in Auckland and Nelson in 1858. Over the rest of the 19th century Naval Volunteer units were formed in various ports such as Bluff, Wanganui, and Wairoa. These were reorganised into Naval Artillery Volunteers in 1883. The Volunteers, or "Navals", peaked after the Russian-scare in the 1880s with a total of 20 units. Volunteers were trained in boats, taught gunnery, and manned some of the coastal batteries at the four main ports. Later they were also trained in mining submarines and maintaining minefields that were laid in Auckland and Wellington harbours. The Naval Volunteers supplemented a small number of regular soldiers known as the Permanent Militia. The Permanent Militia included the New Zealand Torpedo Corps who were responsible for manning the four ''Defender''-class torpedo boa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. History Early Māori settlement The original Māori name for Port Chalmers was or , which may have indicated the hill where the , or altar, was sited. is a later name meaning ‘full tide’ and refers to an incident in which a group of warriors decided to spend the night in a cave that once existed at what was later known as Boiler Point and pulled their canoes well above the high tide mark. Overnight the tide rose and beached canoes were set adrift. As some of them swam out to reclaim the canoes those onshore cried out “Koputai!, Koputai!”Bowman, pp. 1, 4, 8–10, 19, 20, 28, 70–71, 98–109, 156–166, 168, 169, 173–175, 177. When a peace was made between Kāti Māmoe and Kāi Tahu, about 1780, Koputai was one of two southern terminuses of Kāi Tahu territory. The ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waterline
The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. Specifically, it is also the name of a special marking, also known as an international load line, Plimsoll line and water line (positioned amidships), that indicates the draft of the ship and the legal limit to which a ship may be loaded for specific water types and temperatures in order to safely maintain buoyancy, particularly with regard to the hazard of waves that may arise. Varying water temperatures will affect a ship's draft, because warm water is less dense than cold water, providing less buoyancy. In the same way, fresh water is less dense than salinated or seawater with a similar lessening effect upon buoyancy. For vessels with displacement hulls, the hull speed is defined by, among other things, the waterline length. In a sailing boat, the waterline length can change significantly as the boat heels, and can dynamically affect the speed of the boat. A waterline can also refer to any l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the River Severn. The river rises at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, and flows into the North Sea near Tilbury, Essex and Gravesend, Kent, via the Thames Estuary. From the west it flows through Oxford (where it is sometimes called the Isis), Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Henley-on-Thames and Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor. The Thames also drains the whole of Greater London. In August 2022, the source of the river moved five miles to beyond Somerford Keynes due to the heatwave in July 2022. The lower reaches of the river are called the Tideway, derived from its long tidal reach up to Teddington Lock. Its tidal section includes most of its London stretch and has a rise and fall of . From Oxford to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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