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Mariner Class Gunvessel
The ''Mariner'' class was a class of six 8-gun gunvessels (sloops from 1884) built for the Royal Navy between 1883 and 1888. Four were built in the Naval Dockard at Devonport, and two elsewhere; the ''Acorn'' was built by contract at Jacobs Pill on the Pembroke River (a private yard founded in the 1870s by Sir Edward Reed), while the ''Melita'' was built in the Malta Dockyard, the only substantial ship of the Royal Navy ever to be built in the island. Construction Design Designed by Nathaniel Barnaby,Winfield (2004), p.296 the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction, the hull was of composite construction; that is, iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts with wooden planking. The entire class were re-classified in November 1884 as sloops before they entered service. Propulsion Propulsion was provided by a 2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine of driving a single screw. This arrangement provided enough power to drive the ships at , although ''Icarus'' and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Racer (1884)
HMS ''Racer'' was a Royal Navy ''Mariner''-class composite screw gunvessel of 8 guns. Building Designed by Nathaniel Barnaby, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction, her hull was of composite construction; that is, iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts with wooden planking. She was fitted with a 2-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine driving a single propeller, produced by Hawthorn Leslie. She was rigged with three masts, with square rig on the fore- and main-masts, making her a barque-rigged vessel. Her keel was laid at Devonport Royal Dockyard on 9 April 1883 and she was launched on 6 August 1884. Her entire class were re-classified in November 1884 as sloops before they entered service. Career ''Racer'' was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 9 April 1885. She served in Sierra Leone in 1886 and became a tender to the training ship HMS Prince of Wales (1860), HMS ''Britannia'' at Dartmouth, Devon in 1896. She was present at the Fleet Review at Spi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathaniel Barnaby
Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, (25 February 1829 – 16 June 1915) was Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1872 to 1885. Biography Born on 25 February 1829 in Chatham, Barnaby began his career as a naval apprentice at Sheerness in 1843. He won a scholarship to Portsmouth Naval School in 1848. On qualifying in 1852, he became a draughtsman at Woolwich dockyard. He was invited to join the Department of Naval Construction in 1854 to take part in designing the first British ironclad warship, HMS ''Warrior''. Sir Edward Reed became Chief Constructor in 1863. He was married to Barnaby's sister, and he made Barnaby head of his staff. In this post, he worked on the majority of British warships, up to the time of HMS ''Monarch''. When Reed retired in 1872, Barnaby was elevated to "President of the Council of Construction and Chief Naval Architect." Always referred to as the "Chief Constructor," the title was changed in 1875 to "Director of Naval Construction" (DNC). Nathaniel Barnaby ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gunboat Classes
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam era In the age of sail, a gunboat was usually a small undecked vessel carrying a single smoothbore cannon in the bow, or just two or three such cannons. A gunboat could carry one or two masts or be oar-powered only, but the single-masted version of about length was most typical. Some types of gunboats carried two cannons, or else mounted a number of swivel guns on the railings. The small gunboat had advantages: if it only carried a single cannon, the boat could manoeuvre in shallow or restricted areas – such as rivers or lakes – where larger ships could sail only with difficulty. The gun that such boats carried could be quite heavy; a 32-pounder for instance. As such boats were cheap and quick to build, naval forces favoured swarm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falmouth Docks
Falmouth Docks are a deep-water docks of the town of Falmouth in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The docks are the southern shore of the Fal Estuary which is the third largest natural harbour in the world and the deepest in Europe. They extend over 30 ha and covers a range of services to shipping such as repair, refuelling, cleaning and disposal of waste services. The docks are served by the Falmouth Docks railway station. Policing is by the Falmouth Docks Police. Location The town of Falmouth is on the south coast of Cornwall in the sheltered natural harbour of the River Fal. Because of the danger of attacks from the sea the earliest towns were inland at Penryn, Tregony and Truro. In the late 17th-century the small town of Falmouth developed with shipbuilding and chandlers and the import of iron, coal, charcoal and timber, and the export of fish to the Mediterranean countries and tin. The Post Office selected Falmouth for its Packet Service in 1688 to Spain and Por ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hughes Bolckow
Hughes Bolckow formerly ''Messrs, Hughes, Bolckow, and Co., Limited'' was a well-known shipbreaking company based in Blyth, Northumberland. Background Intending to create an industrial park for dismantling obsolete warships in 1911, the company leased of land from Lord Ridley and the Blyth Harbour Commissioners. The company was responsible for scrapping a number of famous Royal Navy ships including HMS ''Britannia'' (previously HMS ''Prince of Wales''). Their first ship was the former Certified Industrial Training Ship, HMS ''Southampton'', which was sent to Blyth in June 1912 to be broken up. In response to requests from customers, the company created a series of "choice Antiques" from the fine old seasoned timber they possessed from ''Britannia.'' The company even had a Ship Timber Department that would create articles manufactured from teakwood taken from obsolete battleships and preserved in "Solignum." During World War I, Messrs, Hughes, Bolckow, and Co. Limited exp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediterranean Fleet
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] |
Hundredweight
The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and US customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the US and British imperial systems. The two values are distinguished in American English as the "short" and "long" hundredweight and in British English as the "cental" and the "imperial hundredweight". * The short hundredweight or cental of is used in the United States. * The long or imperial hundredweight of 8 stone or is defined in the imperial system. Under both conventions, there are 20 hundredweight in a ton, producing a " short ton" of 2,000 pounds and a " long ton" of 2,240 pounds. History The hundredweight has had many values. In England in around 1300, different "hundreds" (''centum'' in Medieval Latin) were defined. The Weights and Measures Act 1835 formally established the present imperial hundredweight of 112 lb. The United States and Canada came to use the ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caliber
In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore matches that specification. It is measured in inches or in millimetres, millimeters. In the United States it is expressed in hundredths of an inch; in the United Kingdom in thousandths; and elsewhere in millimeters. For example, a "45 caliber" firearm has a barrel diameter of roughly . Barrel diameters can also be expressed using metric dimensions. For example, a "9 mm pistol" has a barrel diameter of about 9 millimeters. Since metric and US customary units do not convert evenly at this scale, metric conversions of caliber measured in decimal inches are typically approximations of the precise specifications in non-metric units, and vice versa. In a rifling , rifled barrel, the distance is measured between opposing Rifling#C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts having the fore- and mainmasts Square rig, rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) Fore-and-aft rig, rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, bearing a square-rigged sail above. Etymology The word "barque" entered English via the French term, which in turn came from the Latin language, Latin ''barca'' by way of Occitan language, Occitan, Catalan language, Catalan, Spanish, or Italian. The Latin ''barca'' may stem from Celtic language, Celtic ''barc'' (per Rudolf Thurneysen, Thurneysen) or Greek ''baris'' (per Friedrich Christian Diez, Diez), a term for an Egyptian boat. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'', however, considers the latter improbable. The word ''barc'' appears to have come from Celtic languages. The form adopted by English, perhaps from Irish language, Irish, was "bark", while that adopted by Latin as ''barca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Director Of Naval Construction
The Director of Naval Construction (DNC) also known as the Department of the Director of Naval Construction and Directorate of Naval Construction and originally known as the Chief Constructor of the Navy was a senior principal civil officer responsible to the Board of Admiralty for the design and construction of the warships of the Royal Navy. From 1883 onwards he was also head of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors, the naval architects who staffed his department from 1860 to 1966. The (D.N.C.'s) modern equivalent is Director Ships in the Defence Equipment and Support organisation of the Ministry of Defence. History The post evolved from the office of the ''Assistant Surveyor of the Navy'' (1832-1859) In 1860 the ''Assistant Surveyor'' was renamed ''Chief Constructor'' the post lasted until 1875 when it was renamed to the ''Director of Naval Construction''. The chief constructor was originally head of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors and members of the corps were respons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward James Reed
Sir Edward James Reed, KCB, FRS (20 September 1830 – 30 November 1906) was a British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870. He was a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1874 to 1906. Early life Edward Reed was born in Sheerness, Kent and was the son of John and Elizabeth Reed. He was a naval apprentice at Sheerness and subsequently entered the School of Mathematics and Naval Construction at Portsmouth. In 1851 he married Rosetta, the sister of Nathaniel Barnaby. Barnaby was at that time a fellow student; he would subsequently succeed Reed as Chief Constructor. In 1852 he entered employment at Sheerness Dockyard, but resigned after a disagreement with the management. He then worked in journalism, including editing the '' Mechanics' Magazine''. In 1860, Reed was appointed secretary of the newly formed Institute of Naval Architects. Naval architect In 1863, at the ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malta Dockyard
Malta Dockyard was an important naval base in the Grand Harbour in Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. The infrastructure which is still in operation is now operated by Palumbo Shipyards. History Pre-1800 The Knights of Malta established dockyard facilities within the Grand Harbour to maintain their fleet of galleys. These were spread between the cities of Senglea, Cospicua and Vittoriosa. 19th century When Malta became a British protectorate in 1800, these facilities were inherited, and gradually consolidated, by the Royal Navy. With the loss of Menorca, Malta swiftly became the Navy's principal Mediterranean base. The Royal Navy Dockyard was initially located around Dockyard Creek in Bormla, and occupied several of the dockyard buildings formerly used by the Knights of Malta. By 1850 the facilities included storehouses, a Ropewalk, ropery, a small steam factory, Victualling Commissioners, victualling facilities, houses for the officers of the Yard, and most notably a dry dock& ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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