|
HMS Surprise (1856)
HMS ''Surprise'' was a ''Vigilant''-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Blackwall Yard, London in 1856 and broken up in Plymouth in 1866. Design Her class were designed as second-class despatch and gunvessels. They were intended to operate close inshore during the Crimean War and were essentially enlarged versions of the ''Arrow''-class gunvessel, which has been designed by the Surveyor’s Department in 1854. Propulsion A two-cylinder horizontal single expansion steam engine by Miller, Ravenhill and Salkeld provided through a single screw, and gave a top speed of about 11 knots. Sail plan All ''Vigilant''-class gunvessels were barque-rigged. Armament Although designed with a pair of 68-pounder Lancaster muzzle-loading rifles, the ''Vigilant'' class were finished with one / Armstrong breech-loading gun, one Lancaster muzzle-loading rifled gun and two 20-pounder breech loaders. Construction ''Surprise'' was ordered on 26 July 1855 at the same time a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackwall Yard
Blackwall Yard is a small body of water that used to be a shipyard on the River Thames in Blackwall, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987. History East India Company Blackwall was a shipbuilding area since the Middle Ages. In 1607, the Honorable East India Company (HEIC) decided to build its own ships and leased a yard in Deptford. Initially, this change of policy proved profitable as the first ships cost the Company about £10 per ton instead of the £45 per ton that it had been paying to have ships built for it. However, the situation changed as the Deptford yard came to be expensive to run. In 1614 the East India Company outgrew Deptford and ordered William Burrell to begin work on a new yard for repair, construction and loading of out-going ships. The site Burrell selected was at Blackwall, which was further down river and had deeper water, allowing laden ships to moor closer to the dock. The new yard was fully ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arrow Class Gunvessel
The ''Arrow'' class comprised six second-class screw-driven vessels built as despatch vessels for the Royal Navy in 1854, mounting 6 guns. In 1856 they were redesignated as second-class gunvessels. Construction Design The Crimean War sparked a sudden need for shallow-draught, manoeuvrable vessels for inshore work in the Baltic and the Black Sea. The ''Arrow'' class of six wooden-hulled screw steamers were built during 1854 to a design by the Surveyor’s Department. Construction was undertaken at two commercial yards on the Thames, R & H Green at Blackwall Yard and C J Mare & Company, at Leamouth. Two further designs of Crimean War gunvessel were ordered during 1855, the ''Intrepid'' class and the ''Vigilant'' class, and in 1856 the six ''Arrow''-class despatch vessels were re-classed as second-class gunvessels. Propulsion A two-cylinder horizontal single expansion steam engine provided through a single screw. Sail plan All ''Arrow''-class gunvessels were barque-rigged. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ships Built By The Blackwall Yard
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, based on size, shape, load capacity, and purpose. Ships have supported exploration, trade, warfare, migration, colonization, and science. After the 15th century, new crops that had come from and to the Americas via the European seafarers significantly contributed to world population growth. Ship transport is responsible for the largest portion of world commerce. The word ''ship'' has meant, depending on the era and the context, either just a large vessel or specifically a ship-rigged sailing ship with three or more masts, each of which is square-rigged. As of 2016, there were more than 49,000 merchant ships, totaling almost 1.8 billion dead weight tons. Of these 28% were oil tankers, 43% were bulk carriers, and 13% were cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Gurney Cresswell
Samuel Gurney Cresswell (25 September 1827 – 14 August 1867), was a Royal Navy officer. He was technically the first naval officer to cross the entire Northwest Passage. Robert McClure was in charge of the expedition but Cresswell reached England first. Early years Cresswell was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England in 1827. His parents were Francis Cresswell, Esq. (born 1789) and Rachel Elizabeth Fry (born 1803, London, Middlesex, daughter of Elizabeth Fry). Cresswell had two older brothers (Frank Joseph and Addison John), and three that were younger (William Edward, Gerard Oswin, and Oswald). He had one sister, Harriet France Elizabeth. The Cresswells' circle in Norfolk included the Gurneys as well as Sir Edward Parry. Career He joined the Navy in 1842, and served in the seas off China where he encountered pirates. In 1846 he served on the personal staff of Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas John Cochrane in an expedition in Brunei, and was Mentioned in Despatches. A few yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Victoria (1887)
HMS ''Victoria'' was the lead ship in her class of two battleships of the Royal Navy. On 22 June 1893, she collided with near Tripoli, Lebanon, during manoeuvres and quickly sank, killing 358 crew members, including the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. One of the survivors was executive officer John Jellicoe, later commander-in-chief of the British Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland. Design ''Victoria'' was constructed at a time of innovation and rapid development in ship design. Her name was originally to be ''Renown'', but this was changed to ''Victoria'' while still under construction to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, which took place the year the ship was launched. Her arrival was accompanied by considerable publicity. She was the largest, fastest and most powerful ironclad afloat, with the heaviest guns. She was the first battleship to be propelled by triple-expansion steam engines. These were constructed by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Tryon
Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon (4 January 1832 – 22 June 1893) was a Great Britain, British admiral who died when his flagship HMS Victoria (1887), HMS ''Victoria'' collided with HMS Camperdown (1885), HMS ''Camperdown'' during manoeuvres off Tripoli, Lebanon. Early life Tryon was born at Bulwick, Bulwick Park, Northamptonshire, England, the third son of Thomas Tryon and his wife Anne Trollope. He had three brothers: the eldest, Thomas, joined the 7th Royal Fusiliers, fought at Alma and Inkerman and served through the Indian Mutiny. The second, Henry, passed through Sandhurst, Berkshire, Sandhurst before joining the Rifle Brigade, fighting at Alma, Inkerman and Balaclava before being killed in an attack on Russian positions in 1854. George was the third son: the fourth, Richard Tryon, Richard, also served in the Rifle Brigade. George attended a preparatory school and then Eton College before becoming a naval cadet in 1848, two years older than usual, aged sixteen. The choice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediterranean Fleet (United Kingdom)
The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between the United Kingdom and the majority of the British Empire in the Eastern Hemisphere. The first Commander-in-Chief for the Mediterranean Fleet was the appointment of General at Sea Robert Blake in September 1654 (styled as Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet). The Fleet was in existence until 1967. Pre-Second World War The Royal Navy gained a foothold in the Mediterranean Sea when Gibraltar was captured by the British in 1704 during the War of Spanish Succession, and formally allocated to Britain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Though the British had maintained a naval presence in the Mediterranean before, the capture of Gibraltar allowed the British to establish their first naval base there. The British also used Port Mahon, on the isla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Anglo-Chinese War
The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Empire against the Qing dynasty of China. It was the second major conflict in the Opium Wars, which were fought over the right to import opium to China, and resulted in a second defeat for the Qing dynasty and the forced legalisation of the opium trade. It caused many Chinese officials to believe that conflicts with the Western powers were no longer traditional wars, but part of a looming national crisis. In 1860, British and French troops landed near Beijing and fought their way into the city. Peace negotiations quickly broke down and the British High Commissioner to China ordered the foreign troops to loot and destroy the Old Summer Palace, Imperial Summer Palace, a complex of palaces and gardens at which Qing Dynasty emperors handled affa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the expansion of the Russian Empire in the preceding Russo-Turkish Wars, and the British and French preference to preserve the Ottoman Empire to maintain the balance of power in the Concert of Europe. The flashpoint was a disagreement over the rights of Christian minorities in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire, with the French promoting the rights of Roman Catholics, and Russia promoting those of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The churches worked out their differences with the Ottomans and came to an agreement, but both the French Emperor Napoleon III and the Russian Tsar Nicholas I refused to back down. Nicholas issued an ultimatum that demanded the Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman Empire be placed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vigilant Class Gunvessel
The ''Vigilant''-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy was an enlarged version of the ''Arrow''-class gunvessel of 1854. Both classes were designed for shallow-water operations in the Baltic and Black Seas during the Crimean War. Fourteen of the class were completed, but were ready too late to take part in that conflict. ''Cormorant'' was sunk in action at the Taku Forts, ''Osprey'' was wrecked on the coast of Africa in 1867 and the rest were all sold during the 1860s, with ''Sparrowhawk'' lasting until 1872. Design The class were designed as second-class despatch and gunvessels. They were intended to operate close inshore during the Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ... and were essentially enlarged versions of the ''Arrow''-class gunvessel, which has bee ... [...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] |
