Page 25 - History of War - Issue 18-15

Frontline
THEBIRTHOFIRONCLADS

As cannonballs from coastal batteries began to destroy Maurice Hutty is the chairman of the HMS
Warrior Association and has been a volunteer
wooden navies, iron was introduced to turn the tide guideaboardthevesselsince1993

WHY AND HOW DID IRON carbon content, but engineer backed by 46 centimetres (18 the iron needed in great quantities.
REPLACE WOOD, AND and scientist Henry Bessemer inches) of wood. The thickness of Britain was far ahead of other nations
STEAM REPLACE SAIL ON developed a way to remove the the iron was determined by the in this respect, and had by far the
THE WORLD’S WARSHIPS? carbon by blowing compressed air machinery available to manufacture largest ironclad fl eet in the world.
Iron started to be used in warship into the molten iron. it at that time. Ships could hold However, the Royal Navy still kept a
construction in the 1700s in the bigger and heavier guns but until massive fl eet of wooden ships until
form of joint brackets. Timber was WHO INVENTED THE stronger explosives than gunpowder their life expired.
getting very short in Britain’s forests IRONCLAD WARSHIP? became available, then there was
and demand was struggling to keep During the Crimean War, both the no need for larger guns. HOW MUCH OF A TURNING
up with supply for a small country French and English ships suffered POINT WAS THE BATTLE OF
with a very large navy. causalities from bombardments HOW IMPORTANT WAS HAMPTON ROADS?
Steam replacing sail was a by shore batteries. The French THE CONSTRUCTION AND The Battle of Hampton Roads in the
natural progression once the steam responded by producing some small LAUNCH OF HMS WARRIOR American Civil War goes down in
engine had been invented. First boats made of wood but protected TO MARITIME WARFARE? the history books as the fi rst clash
designed to pump water out of by iron plates. Cannonballs could Warrior was built with one purpose between two ironclads. The Union
mines in the early 1700s, steam not penetrate the ships’ iron sides, in mind, to repel France, one of the Monitor engaged the Confederate
engines found their way on to ships making the designers realise that strongest military countries in the ship Virginia in a battle that lasted
in the 1820s. The mine engines the shockwave produced when a world. Plans to invade Britain by the four hours. Virginia was hit 50 times
used a large revolving wheel with cannonball hit the iron side of the French were put in place from 1856 while Monitor, a much smaller ship
buckets to move the water, so when ship was absorbed by the wood and and the ship was built to deter this that lay much lower in the water, was
engines were placed on ships, no damage was done. The era of threat. It could operate in any part hit 21 times. The battle ended when
the buckets gave way to planks of the ironclad was born. of the world, so should any other the Monitor’s captain was temporarily
wood to propel the ship. Although nation have similar ideas, they blinded and broke his ship off from
naval offi cers initially disliked steam HOW DID NAVAL BATTLES knew they would have to overcome the confl ict. Virginia’s captain thought
engines, they soon found their ships CHANGE WITH THESE NEW Warrior fi rst. that Monitor was in retreat and did
were now free of the restrictions of SHIPS? COULD THEY HOLD not pursue, ending the fi rst ironclad
tide and wind direction, giving them BIGGER AND HEAVIER WHICH COUNTRIES battle in a draw.
a freedom they never had before. NAVAL GUNS? TOOK TO IRONCLAD SHIP
Steel ship building was not The ironclads all used roughly the PRODUCTION THE MOST? DID THE FIRST IRONCLAD
possible before the 1870s, as same thickness of armour: 11.5 Ironclads could only be built by SHIPS HAVE ANY
molten iron contained a large centimetres (4.5 inches) of iron countries with the ability to produce MECHANICAL ISSUES?
Warrior, the fi rst of the British
ThefirstbattlebetweentwoIroncladships ironclads, was a prototype, so
atthe1862BattleofHamptonRoads onboard many things were not
usheredinaneweraofnavalwarfare
quite right. Steering the ship was a
nightmare, as 9,000 tons of ship was
steered by a piece of rope that was
constantly stretched and then parted.
The anchor cables, now made of
chain, were stored in the centre of
the ship and could be moved by man
power only. Most of those faults were
rectifi ed by HMS Achilles, which was
launched in 1864.
WHAT HAPPENED TO
WOODEN SAIL SHIPS?
Wooden warships were still being
built at the same time that ironclads
were. The Admiralty had about 20
years’ supply of timber to get rid of
and a lot of wooden ships at the end
of their service life became training
ships for navy cadets. Wooden ships
with engines were still used all over Images: Alamy, HMS Warrior Association
the world for transporting troops.
Many wooden ships were broken
up though, and the recycled wood
was sold to builders, explaining why
many old public houses have old ship
beams in their structure.

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