Chapter 1

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Evolution of Naval Armament This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: The Evolution of Naval Armament Author: Frederick Leslie Robertson Release date: March 18, 2018 [eBook #56777] Language: English Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56777 Credits: Produced by deaurider, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVOLUTION OF NAVAL ARMAMENT *** Produced by deaurider, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) THE EVOLUTION OF NAVAL ARMAMENT [Illustration: A SIXTY-GUN SHIP OF LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY From John Smith’s _Sea-Man’s Grammar_ (1694 edition) _Frontispiece_ ] THE EVOLUTION OF NAVAL ARMAMENT BY FREDERICK LESLIE ROBERTSON ENGINEER COMMANDER, ROYAL NAVY WITH EIGHT HALF-TONE PLATES AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON CONSTABLE & COMPANY LTD 10 ORANGE STREET LEICESTER SQUARE WC 1921 PREFACE The notes on which these essays are based were collected in the course of two commissions spent under the lee of the Admiralty library, close to the Royal United Service Institution, and in touch with the Reading Room of the British Museum and other public sources of information. The lack of a book describing in popular language the materialistic side of naval history is, I think, generally admitted. Historians as a rule have devoted small space to consideration of material; in particular, the story of the revolutionary changes in naval material which took place during the nineteenth century has never been placed before the public in convenient form. In the attempt to supply such a description I have taken the liberty, as an engineer, of treating of naval material as a whole; tracing, as well as my technical knowledge permits, the progress of all the three principal elements--ship, gun, engine--and their interdependence. The result, faulty and incomplete as it is, may nevertheless be of considerable service, it is hoped, in clarifying the work of the historians and bridging the gap which divides the classic histories from our modern text-books. I have considered our modern navy to begin with the “Admiral” class of battleship, about the year 1880. My respectful thanks are due to the heads of three Admiralty departments: Captain R. H. Crooke, C.B., lately Director of Naval Ordnance; Engineer Vice-Admiral Sir George Goodwin, K.C.B., LL.D., Engineer-in-Chief of the Fleet; and Sir Eustace T. D’Eyncourt, K.C.B., Director of Naval Construction; for their unofficial approval. I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the officials of the Admiralty and the R.U.S.I. libraries, for their invariable kindness; to the Directors of the British and S. Kensington Museums, for permission to reproduce pictures in their possession; to Mr. A. W. Johns, C.B.E., Assistant Director of Naval Construction, Engineer Commander E. C. Smith, O.B.E., R.N., Mr. H. W. Dickinson, of the S. Kensington Museum, Mr. Edward Fraser, and Sir George Hadcock, F.R.S., R.A., of Elswick, for various help and criticism; and especially to Mr. L. G. Carr Laughton, of the Admiralty library, of whose advice and knowledge I have often availed myself, and to whose encouragement the completion of the work has been largely due. It only remains to state that the whole of the book is written and published on my own responsibility, and that it is in no manner or degree an official publication. F. L. R. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE SAILING SHIP 1 II. THE SMOOTH-BORE GUN 61 III. THE STEAM ENGINE 93 IV. “NEW PRINCIPLES OF GUNNERY” 112 V. THE CARRONADE 125 VI. THE TRUCK CARRIAGE 140 VII. THE SHELL GUN 160 VIII. THE RIFLED GUN 181 IX. PROPELLING MACHINERY 210 X. THE IRONCLAD 246 INDEX 303 PLATES A Sixty-gun Ship of late Seventeenth Century _Frontispiece_ _To face page_ A Tudor Ship of Period 1540-50 60 Tudor Ships under Sail 124 The _Speaker_, a Second-rate of the Commonwealth 180 The _Comet_ of 1812 224 _Rattler_ versus _Alecto_ 240 The _Warrior_ 260 The _Monarch_ 280 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT _Page_ Diagram illustrating Distortion of Frames under Load 52 Diagram representing a Ship with Trussed Frames 53 Typical Sections of “Symondite” and contemporary Ships 59 Turkish Bronze Cannon 68 French Twenty-four Pounder, with Spherical Chamber 84 Savery’s Engine 101 Newcomen’s Engine 104 Connecting-rod 111 A Carronade 133 A Truck Gun 147 Method of Gun-Exercise in H.M.S. _Shannon_ 155 A Paixhans Gun 173 Bullet Mould 187 Rifleman Presenting 189 “Carabine à Tige” 195 Minié Bullet 195 Whitworth Rifle Bullet 198 Ship and Galley 211 The _Charlotte Dundas_ 219 Pettit Smith’s Propeller 235 THE EVOLUTION OF NAVAL ARMAMENT