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Torpedo Ram
A torpedo ram is a type of torpedo boat combining a ram with torpedo tubes. Incorporating design elements from the cruiser and the monitor, it was intended to provide small and inexpensive weapon systems for coastal defence and other littoral combat. Overview Like a monitor, torpedo rams operated with very little freeboard, sometimes with only inches of hull rising above the water, exposing only their funnels and turrets to enemy fire. In addition to the guns in their turrets, they also were equipped with torpedoes. Early designs incorporated a spar torpedo that could be extended from the bow and detonated by ramming a target. Later designs used tube-launched self-propelled torpedoes, but retained the concept of ramming, resulting in designs like HMS ''Polyphemus'', which had five torpedo tubes, two each port and starboard and one mounted in the center of her reinforced ram bow. The torpedo ram concept came about at a time when the self-propelled torpedo, pioneered by Robert Whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knot (unit)
The knot () is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour, exactly (approximately or ). The ISO standard symbol for the knot is kn. The same symbol is preferred by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), while kt is also common, especially in aviation, where it is the form recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The knot is a non- SI unit. The knot is used in meteorology, and in maritime and air navigation. A vessel travelling at 1 knot along a meridian travels approximately one minute of geographic latitude in one hour. Definitions ;1 international knot = :1 nautical mile per hour (by definition), : (exactly), : (approximately), : (approximately), : (approximately) : (approximately). The length of the internationally agreed nautical mile is . The US adopted the international definition in 1954, having previously used the US nautical mile (). The UK adopted the international nautical mile definition in 1970, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ship Types
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 con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torpedo Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish NavySmith, Charles Edgar: ''A short history of naval and marine engineering.'' Babcock & Wilcox, ltd. at the University Press, 1937, page 263 as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War. Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels with little endurance for unattended o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torpedo Tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboard surface vessels. Deck-mounted torpedo launchers are usually designed for a specific type of torpedo, while submarine torpedo tubes are general-purpose launchers, and are often also capable of deploying naval mine, mines and cruise missiles. Most modern launchers are standardized on a diameter for light torpedoes (deck mounted aboard ship) or a diameter for heavy torpedoes (underwater tubes), although other sizes of torpedo tube have been used: see Torpedo#Classes and diameters, Torpedo classes and diameters. Submarine torpedo tube A submarine torpedo tube is a more complex mechanism than a torpedo tube on a surface ship, because the tube has to accomplish the function of moving the torpedo from the normal atmospheric pressure within t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heat Ray
The Martians, also known as the Invaders, are the fictional race of extraterrestrials from the H.G. Wells 1898 novel ''The War of the Worlds''. They are the main antagonists of the novel, and their efforts to exterminate the populace of the Earth and claim the planet for themselves drive the plot and present challenges for the novel's human characters. They are notable for their use of extraterrestrial weaponry far in advance of that of mankind at the time of the invasion. In the novel Little about the Martians is definitive, the story being told by a first-person narrator. The Martians are described as octopus-like creatures: the "body" consisting of a disembodied head nearly across, having two eyes; a V-shaped, beak-like mouth; and two branches each of eight 'almost whip-like' tentacles, grouped around the mouth, referred to as the 'hands'. They reproduce asexually, by "budding" off from a parent. Internally, the Martians consist of a brain, lungs, heart, and blood vessel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tripod (The War Of The Worlds)
The fighting machine (also known as "Tripod") is one of the fictional machines used by the Martians in H.G. Wells' 1898 classic science fiction novel ''The War of the Worlds''. In the novel, it is a fast-moving, three-legged walker, reported to be 100 feet tall, with multiple whip-like tentacles used for grasping, and two lethal weapons: the Heat-Ray and a gun-like tube used for discharging canisters of a poisonous chemical black smoke that kills humans and animals. It is the primary machine the Martians use when they invade Earth, along with the handling machine, the flying machine, and the embankment machine. Description in the Novel The fighting machines walk on three tall, articulated legs and have a grouping of long, whip-like metallic tentacles hanging beneath the central body, a single flexible appendage holding the heat-ray projector, and atop the main body a brazen hood-like head that houses a sole Martian operator. "Chapter 10: 'The War of the Worlds' by H.G. We ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The War Of The Worlds (novel)
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by '' Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appearance in hardcover was in 1898 from publisher William Heinemann of London. Written between 1895 and 1897, it is one of the earliest stories to detail a conflict between mankind and an extra-terrestrial race. The novel is the first-person narrative of both an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and of his younger brother in London as southern England is invaded by Martians. The novel is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction canon. The book's plot was similar to numerous works of invasion literature which were published around the same period, and has been variously interpreted as a commentary on the theory of evolution, British colonialism, and Victorian-era fears, superstitions and prejudices. Wells later noted that an inspiration for the plot w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Thunder Child
HMS ''Thunder Child'' is a fictional ironclad torpedo ram of the Royal Navy, destroyed by Martian fighting-machines in H. G. Wells' 1898 novel ''The War of the Worlds'' whilst protecting a refugee rescue fleet of civilian vessels. It has been suggested that ''Thunder Child'' was based on HMS ''Polyphemus'', which was the sole torpedo ram to see service with the Royal Navy from 1881 to 1903. However, given that ''Thunder Child'' is described by Wells as a huge ship with twin funnels and guns sufficiently powerful to destroy a Martian tripod with a single hit, it's unlikely that the diminutive single-funnelled and lightly armed ''Polyphemus'' was actually meant to be the model for the fictional ship. There's little doubt that ''Thunder Child'' was meant to be a battleship and Wells' use of the term "torpedo ram" was merely referring to the ram bows common in Victorian warships of the time. Fictional description In the novel Wells gives only a rough description of the ship. After ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
USS Intrepid (1874)
The second USS ''Intrepid'', was a steam-powered torpedo ram commissioned and built in 1874 that had the distinction of being the world's first U.S. Navy ship armed with self-propelled torpedoes. In concept and design she was roughly comparable to the Royal Navy's , although ''Intrepid'' was completed more than half a decade earlier. The ''Intrepid'' was commissioned by President Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of Navy George M. Robeson. Construction ''Intrepid'', like the other torpedo rams, was a product of the confusion that followed the invention of the self-propelled torpedo, which saw the world's navies struggle to find a way to effectively utilize the earliest torpedo designs. Her keel was laid down at the Boston Navy Yard and she was launched on 5 March 1874, sponsored by Miss H. Evelyn Frothingham Pooke. After construction completed, ''Intrepid'' was commissioned into the U.S. Navy on 31 July. Her commanding officer was Commander Augustus P. Cooke. Service As with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Whitehead
Robert Whitehead (3 January 1823 – 14 November 1905) was an English engineer who was most famous for developing the first effective self-propelled naval torpedo. Early life He was born in Bolton, England, the son of James Whitehead, a cotton-bleacher, and his wife Ellen Whitehead née Swift. He trained as an engineer and draughtsman, and attended the Mechanics' Institute, Manchester. His first professional employment was at a shipyard in Toulon, France, for Philip Taylor & Sons, and then as a consultant engineer in Milan, Italy. He then moved to Trieste, on the Adriatic coast of Austria. Whitehead's work in Trieste was noticed by the owners of ''Fonderia Metalli'', a metal foundry in the nearby city of Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia). In 1856, Whitehead became manager of the company, and changed its name to ''Stabilimento Tecnico di Fiume'' (STF). STF produced marine steam boilers and engines, which were the most modern products of that era. The Austrian Navy was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
