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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] |
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] |
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] |
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship, boat, or flying boat. The hull may open at the top (such as a dinghy), or it may be fully or partially covered with a deck. Atop the deck may be a deckhouse and other superstructures, such as a funnel, derrick, or mast. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline. General features There is a wide variety of hull types that are chosen for suitability for different usages, the hull shape being dependent upon the needs of the design. Shapes range from a nearly perfect box in the case of scow barges to a needle-sharp surface of revolution in the case of a racing multihull sailboat. The shape is chosen to strike a balance between cost, hydrostatic considerations (accommodation, load carrying, and stability), hydrodynamics (speed, power requirements, and motion and behavior in a seaway) and special considerations for the ship's role, such as the rounded bow of an icebreaker or the flat bottom of a landing craft. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Defender (1883) Bow
Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Defender'': * , a 12-gun ''Courser''-class gun-brig launched in 1797 and on the Navy List until 1802. * , a 14-gun ''Archer''-class gun-brig launched in 1804 and wrecked in 1809. * , an 8-gun lugger, previously the French privateer ''Beau Marseille''. She was captured in 1809 by and sold in 1814. * , a second-class colonial-service torpedo boat built in 1883 for service in New Zealand and abandoned at Lyttelton, New Zealand sometime after 1900. Her remains can be seen at the Torpedo Boat Museum, Magazine Bay, Lyttelton. * , an , launched in 1911, present at the Battle of Jutland and sold in 1921. * , a D-class destroyer launched in 1932 and sunk in 1941. * , a destroyer launched in 1950 and broken up in 1972. * , a Type 45 destroyer launched on 21 October 2009. The name was also used between 1941(?) and 1945 for a small shore establishment just outside Liverpool. Battle honours Ships named ''Defender'' have earned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ages, boroughs were settlements in England that were granted some self-government; burghs were the Scottish equivalent. In medieval England, boroughs were also entitled to elect members of parliament. The use of the word ''borough'' probably derives from the burghal system of Alfred the Great. Alfred set up a system of defensive strong points (Burhs); in order to maintain these particular settlements, he granted them a degree of autonomy. After the Norman Conquest, when certain towns were granted self-governance, the concept of the burh/borough seems to have been reused to mean a self-governing settlement. The concept of the borough has been used repeatedly (and often differently) throughout the world. Often, a borough is a single town with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traction Engine
A traction engine is a steam engine, steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin ''tractus'', meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it. They are sometimes called road locomotives to distinguish them from railway steam locomotive, locomotives – that is, steam engines that run on rails. Traction engines tend to be large, robust and powerful, but also heavy, slow, and difficult to manoeuvre. Nevertheless, they revolutionized agriculture and road haulage at a time when the only alternative Prime mover (tractor unit), prime mover was the draught horse. They became popular in industrialised countries from around 1850, when the first self-propelled portable steam engines for agricultural use were developed. Production continued well into the early part of the 20th century, when competition from internal combustion engine-powered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conning Tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and ground tackle. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility of the entirety of the ship, ocean conditions, and other vessels. The naval term "conn" may derive from the Middle English ''conne'' (study, become acquainted with) or French ''conduire'' from Latin ''conducere'' (conduct). Surface ships On surface ships, the conning tower was a feature of all battleships and armored cruisers from about 1860 to the early years of World War II. Located at the front end of the superstructure, the conning tower was a heavily armored cylinder, with tiny slit windows on three sides providing a reasonable field of view. Designed to shield just enough personnel and devices for navigation during battle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such a device was called an automotive, automobile, locomotive, or fish torpedo; colloquially a ''fish''. The term ''torpedo'' originally applied to a variety of devices, most of which would today be called naval mine, mines. From about 1900, ''torpedo'' has been used strictly to designate a self-propelled underwater explosive device. While the 19th-century battleship had evolved primarily with a view to engagements between armored warships with naval artillery, large-caliber guns, the invention and refinement of torpedoes from the 1860s onwards allowed small torpedo boats and other lighter surface combatant , surface vessels, submarines/submersibles, even improvised fishing boats or frogmen, and later light aircraft, to destroy large shi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naval Mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any vessel or a particular vessel type, akin to anti-infantry vs. anti-vehicle mines. Naval mines can be used offensively, to hamper enemy shipping movements or lock vessels into a harbour; or defensively, to protect friendly vessels and create "safe" zones. Mines allow the minelaying force commander to concentrate warships or defensive assets in mine-free areas giving the adversary three choices: undertake an expensive and time-consuming minesweeping effort, accept the casualties of challenging the minefield, or use the unmined waters where the greatest concentration of enemy firepower will be encountered. Although international law requires signatory nations to declare mined areas, precise locations remain secret; and non-complying individ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commodore (Royal Navy)
Commodore (Cdre) is a rank of the Royal Navy above captain and below rear admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6. The rank is equivalent to brigadier in the British Army and Royal Marines and to air commodore in the Royal Air Force. Commodore has only been a substantive rank in the Royal Navy since 1997. Until then the term denoted a functional position rather than a formal rank, being the title bestowed on the senior officer of a fleet of at least two naval vessels comprising an independent (usually ad hoc and short-term) command. (In this case, for instance, a lieutenant in substantive rank could be a commodore for the term of the command.) History The rank of commodore was introduced during the 17th century in November 1674 (though not legally established until 1806). In 1684 the navy introduced two classes of commodore, the first known as a ''Commodore Distinction'' and the other a ''Commodore Ordinary''; these would later evolve into commodores first and second clas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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