Ironclad warship - Knowledge (XXG)

832: 1663:, an explosive charge pushed against the hull of a warship by a small boat. For the first time, a large warship faced a serious threat from a smaller one—and given the relative inefficiency of shellfire against ironclads, the threat from the spar torpedo was taken seriously. The U.S. Navy converted four of its monitors to become turretless armored spar-torpedo vessels while under construction in 1864–1865, but these vessels never saw action. Another proposal, the towed or 'Harvey' torpedo, involved an explosive on a line or outrigger; either to deter a ship from ramming or to make a torpedo attack by a boat less suicidal. 727: 1402:

advantage of rifling. American ordnance experts accordingly preferred smoothbore monsters whose round shot could at least 'skip' along the surface of the water. Actual effective combat ranges, they had learned during the Civil War, were comparable to those in the Age of Sail—though a vessel could now be smashed to pieces in only a few rounds. Smoke and the general chaos of battle only added to the problem. As a result, many naval engagements in the 'Age of the Ironclad' were still fought at ranges within easy eyesight of their targets, and well below the maximum reach of their ships' guns.

1010: 2274: 1826: 2188:, but never considered running the smoke-ridden, shallow-water gauntlet straight to St. Petersburg with ironclads. Likewise, monitors proved acutely unable to 'overwhelm' enemy fortifications single-handed during the American conflict, though their low-profile and heavy armor protection made them ideal for running artillery gauntlets. Mines and obstructions negated these advantages—a problem the British Admiralty frequently acknowledged but never countered throughout the period. The British never laid down enough 755:. The U.S. Navy at the time the war broke out had no ironclads, its most powerful ships being six unarmored steam-powered frigates. Since the bulk of the Navy remained loyal to the Union, the Confederacy sought to gain advantage in the naval conflict by acquiring modern armored ships. In May 1861, the Confederate Congress appropriated $ 2 million dollars for the purchase of ironclads from overseas, and in July and August 1861 the Confederacy started work on construction and converting wooden ships. 1233: 388: 2014:

retain sails, or was a rational response to the operational and strategic situation, is a matter of debate. A steam-only fleet would require a network of coaling stations worldwide, which would need to be fortified at great expense to stop them falling into enemy hands. Just as significantly, because of unsolved problems with the technology of the boilers which provided steam for the engines, the performance of double-expansion engines was rarely as good in practice as it was in theory.

569: 1222: 940: 1538: 2300:-type coastal ironclads; by the 1870s most of these were laid up in reserve, leaving the United States virtually without an ironclad fleet. Another five large monitors were ordered in the 1870s. The limitations of the monitor type effectively prevented the US from projecting power overseas, and until the 1890s the United States would have come off badly in a conflict with even Spain or the Latin American powers. The 1890s saw the beginning of what became the 2511: 356: 1748:. And, given the large quantities of wood required to build a steam warship and the falling cost of iron, iron hulls were increasingly cost-effective. The main reason for the French use of wooden hulls for the ironclad fleet built in the 1860s was that the French iron industry could not supply enough, and the main reason why Britain built its handful of wooden-hulled ironclads was to make best use of hulls already started and wood already bought. 2018: 47: 454:

of iron backed by the same thickness of wood would generally cause shells to split open and fail to detonate. One factor in the performance of wrought iron during these tests that was not understood by metallurgists of the day was that wrought iron begins to become brittle at temperatures below 20 °C (68 °F). Many of the tests were conducted at temperatures below this while the battles were fought in tropical climates.

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engagements of the latter half of the 19th century which involved ironclads normally involved colonial actions or clashes between second-rate naval powers. But these encounters were often enough to convince British policy-makers of the increasing hazards of strictly naval foreign intervention, from Hampton Roads in the American Civil War to the hardening combined defences of naval arsenals such as Kronstadt and Cherbourg.

1461: 1116: 1207: 2181:' were markedly different from the other high-seas ironclads of the period and were an important precursor of the modern battleship. As long-range monitors they could reach Bermuda unescorted, for example. However, they were still armed with only four heavy guns and were as vulnerable to mines and obstructions (and enemy monitors) as the original monitors of the Union Navy proved to be during the Civil War. 279: 190: 2414: 1702: 2312: 1643:, for instance from shore emplacements. The barbette was lighter than the turret, needing less machinery and no roof armor. Some barbettes were stripped of their armor plate to reduce the top-weight of their ships. The barbette became widely adopted in the 1880s, and with the addition of an armored 'gun-house', transformed into the turrets of the pre-dreadnought battleships. 1971: 181:: "The (ironclad) had three chief characteristics: a metal-skinned hull, steam propulsion and a main armament of guns capable of firing explosive shells. It is only when all three characteristics are present that a fighting ship can properly be called an ironclad." Each of these developments was introduced separately in the decade before the first ironclads. 1334:, which weighed 6.5 long tons (6.6 t), the Admiralty introduced 7-inch (178 mm) rifled guns, weighing 7 long tons (7 t). These were followed by a series of increasingly mammoth weapons—guns weighing 12 long tons (12 t), 18 long tons (18 t), 25 long tons (25 t), 38 long tons (39 t) and finally 81 long tons (82 t), with 628: 2266:, mainly out of necessity because of the superior numbers and quality of ironclads used by the Turkish navy. Russia expanded her navy in the 1880s and 1890s with modern armored cruisers and battleships, but the ships were manned by inexperienced crews and politically appointed leadership, which enhanced their defeat in the 341:, spelled the end of the wooden-hulled warship. The more practical threat to wooden ships was from conventional cannon firing red-hot shot, which could lodge in the hull and cause a fire or ammunition explosion. Some navies even experimented with hollow shot filled with molten metal for extra incendiary power. 2001:, started in 1869, was the first large, ocean-going ironclad to dispense with masts. Her principal role was for combat in the English Channel and other European waters; while her coal supplies gave her enough range to cross the Atlantic, she would have had little endurance on the other side of the ocean. The 2195:'battleships' to instantly overwhelm Cherbourg, Kronstadt or even New York City with gunfire. Although throughout the 1860s and 1870s the Royal Navy was still in many respects superior to its potential rivals, by the early 1880s widespread concern about the threat from France and Germany culminated in the 1949: 2005:

and the similar ships commissioned by the British and Russian navies in the 1870s were the exception rather than the rule. Most ironclads of the 1870s retained masts, and only the Italian navy, which during that decade was focused on short-range operations in the Adriatic, built consistently mastless

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had relatively short barrels, to prevent the barrel itself slowing the shell. The sharpness of the black powder explosion also meant that guns were subjected to extreme stress. One important step was to press the powder into pellets, allowing a slower, more controlled explosion and a longer barrel. A

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in 1861 for testing and evaluation purposes. Ericsson's turret turned on a central spindle, and Coles's turned on a ring of bearings. Turrets offered the maximum arc of fire from the guns, but there were significant problems with their use in the 1860s. The fire arc of a turret would be considerably

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invented a method of reliably sealing a breech, adopted by the French in 1873. Just as compellingly, the growing size of naval guns and consequently, their ammunition, made muzzle-loading much more complicated. With guns of such size there was no prospect of hauling in the gun for reloading, or even

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The batteries have a claim to the title of the first ironclad warships but they were capable of only 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) under their own power: they operated under their own power at the Battle of Kinburn, but had to be towed for long-range transit. They were also arguably marginal

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During the 1870s the distinction grew between 'first-class ironclads' or 'battleships' on the one hand, and 'cruising ironclads' designed for long-range work on the other. The demands on first-class ironclads for very heavy armor and armament meant increasing displacement, which reduced speed under

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steam engines, which used 30–40% less coal than earlier models. The Royal Navy decided to switch to the double-expansion engine in 1871, and by 1875 they were widespread. However, this development alone was not enough to herald the end of the mast. Whether this was due to a conservative desire to

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The equivalent strengths of the different armor plates was as follows: 15 in (381 mm) of wrought iron was equivalent to 12 in (305 mm) of either plain steel or compound iron and steel armor, and to 7.75 in (197 mm) of Harvey armor or 5.75 in (146 mm) of Krupp

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class. Though the ships were laid down in 1873 their armor was not purchased from France until 1877. The French navy decided in 1880 to adopt compound armor for its fleet, but found it limited in supply, so from 1884 the French navy was using steel armor. Britain stuck to compound armor until 1889.

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class ships. One consideration which became more acute was that even from the original Armstrong models, following the Crimean War, range and hitting power far exceeded simple accuracy, especially at sea where the slightest roll or pitch of the vessel as 'floating weapons-platform' could negate the

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into gas. This explosion propels the shot or shell out of the front of the gun, but also imposes great stresses on the gun-barrel. If the breech—which experiences some of the greatest forces in the gun—is not entirely secure, then there is a risk that either gas will discharge through the breech or

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The Union ironclads played an important role in the Mississippi and tributaries by providing tremendous fire upon Confederate forts, installations and vessels with relative impunity to enemy fire. They were not as heavily armored as the ocean-going monitors of the Union, but they were adequate for

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By 1862, navies across Europe had adopted ironclads. Britain and France each had sixteen either completed or under construction, though the British vessels were larger. Austria, Italy, Russia, and Spain were also building ironclads. However, the first battles using the new ironclad ships took place

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believed that the splinters from the hull were even more dangerous than those from wooden hulls and the tests partially confirmed this belief. What was ignored was that 14 inches (356 mm) of wood backing the iron would stop most of the splinters from penetrating and that relatively thin plates

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The first ocean-going ironclads carried masts and sails like their wooden predecessors, and these features were only gradually abandoned. Early steam engines were inefficient; the wooden steam fleet of the Royal Navy could only carry "5 to 9 days coal", and the situation was similar with the early

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Iron ships had first been proposed for military use in the 1820s. In the 1830s and 1840s, France, Britain and the United States had all experimented with iron-hulled but unarmored gunboats and frigates. However, the iron-hulled frigate was abandoned by the end of the 1840s, because iron hulls were

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Broadside armament also had disadvantages, which became more serious as ironclad technology developed. Heavier guns to penetrate ever-thicker armor meant that fewer guns could be carried. Furthermore, the adoption of ramming as an important tactic meant the need for ahead and all-round fire. These

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ordered the development of light-draft floating batteries, equipped with heavy guns and protected by heavy armor. Experiments made during the first half of 1854 proved highly satisfactory, and on 17 July 1854, the French communicated to the British Government that a solution had been found to make

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to retreat; return fire from Egyptian guns was heavy at first, but inflicted little damage, killing only five British sailors. Few Egyptian guns were actually dismounted, on the other hand, and the fortifications themselves were typically left intact. Had the Egyptians actually utilised the heavy

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struggled to maintain a deterrent parity with at least France, while providing suitable protection to Britain's commerce and colonial outposts worldwide. Ironclads remained, for the British Royal Navy, a matter of defending the British Isles first and projecting power abroad second. Those naval

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There were two main design alternatives to the broadside. In one design, the guns were placed in an armored casemate amidships: this arrangement was called the 'box-battery' or 'center-battery'. In the other, the guns could be placed on a rotating platform to give them a broad field of fire; when

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The Austrians believed their ships to have less effective guns than their enemy, so decided to engage the Italians at close range and ram them. The Austrian fleet formed into an arrowhead formation with the ironclads in the first line, charging at the Italian ironclad squadron. In the melée which

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The caliber and weight of guns could only increase so far. The larger the gun, the slower it would be to load, the greater the stresses on the ship's hull, and the less the stability of the ship. The size of the gun peaked in the 1880s, with some of the heaviest calibers of gun ever used at sea.

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guns. This tactic was totally unsuited to ramming, and the ram threw fleet tactics into disarray. The question of how an ironclad fleet should deploy in battle to make best use of the ram was never tested in battle, and if it had been, combat might have shown that rams could only be used against

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The Royal Navy had not been keen to sacrifice its advantage in steam ships of the line, but was determined that the first British ironclad would outmatch the French ships in every respect, particularly speed. A fast ship would have the advantage of being able to choose a range of engagement that

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ships. Rapid development of warship design in the late 19th century transformed the ironclad from a wooden-hulled vessel that carried sails to supplement its steam engines into the steel-built, turreted battleships, and cruisers familiar in the 20th century. This change was pushed forward by the

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s armor protection was largely limited to the central citadel amidships, protecting boilers and engines, turrets and magazines, and little else. An ingenious arrangement of cork-filled compartments and watertight bulkheads was intended to keep her stable and afloat in the event of damage to her

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A significant number of broadside ironclads were built in the 1860s, principally in Britain and France, but in smaller numbers by other powers including Italy, Austria, Russia and the United States. The advantages of mounting guns on both broadsides was that the ship could engage more than one

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The decision to retain muzzle-loaders until the 1880s has been criticized by historians. However, at least until the late 1870s, the British muzzle-loaders had superior performance in terms of both range and rate of fire than the French and Prussian breech-loaders, which suffered from the same

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was the second to adopt ironclad warships, and it applied them worldwide in their whole range of roles. In the age of sail, the British strategy for war depended on the Royal Navy mounting a blockade of the ports of the enemy. Because of the limited endurance of steamships, this was no longer

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The unsuitability of unarmored iron for warship hulls meant that iron was only adopted as a building material for battleships when protected by armor. However, iron gave the naval architect many advantages. Iron allowed larger ships and more flexible design, for instance the use of watertight

1605:. The weight thus saved from having a high broadside above the waterline was diverted to actual guns and armor. Low freeboard, however, also meant a smaller hull and therefore a smaller capacity for coal storage—and therefore range of the vessel. In many respects, the turreted, low-freeboard 978:

to build the City-class ironclads. These excellent ships were built with twin engines and a central paddle wheel, all protected by an armored casemate. They had a shallow draft, allowing them to journey up smaller tributaries, and were very well suited for river operations. Eads also produced

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The Italian fleet consisted of 12 ironclads and a similar number of wooden warships, escorting transports which carried troops intending to land on the Adriatic island of Lissa. Among the Italian ironclads were seven broadside ironclad frigates, four smaller ironclads, and the newly built

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gave strength to the ramming craze. From the early 1870s to early 1880s most British naval officers thought that guns were about to be replaced as the main naval armament by the ram. Those who noted the tiny number of ships that had actually been sunk by ramming struggled to be heard.

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limited by masts and rigging, so they were unsuited to use on the earlier ocean-going ironclads. The second problem was that turrets were extremely heavy. Ericsson was able to offer the heaviest possible turret (guns and armor protection) by deliberately designing a ship with very low

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was the last British ship with a retractable propeller, later armored cruisers of the 1870s retained sailing rig, sacrificing speed under steam in consequence. It took until 1881 for the Royal Navy to lay down a long-range armored warship capable of catching enemy commerce raiders,

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The battles of the American Civil War and at Lissa were very influential on the designs and tactics of the ironclad fleets that followed. In particular, it taught a generation of naval officers the (ultimately erroneous) lesson that ramming was the best way to sink enemy ironclads.

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were built in France over a period of ten years, but the United Kingdom soon managed to take the lead in production. Altogether, France built ten new wooden steam battleships and converted 28 from older ships of the line, while the United Kingdom built 18 and converted 41.

1759:, but a difficulty for long-range ships. The only solution was to sheath the iron hull first in wood and then in copper, a laborious and expensive process which made wooden construction remain attractive. Iron and wood were to some extent interchangeable: the Japanese 1966:

also illustrates two design features which aided hybrid propulsion; she had retractable screws to reduce drag while under sail (though in practice the steam engine was run at a low throttle), and a telescopic funnel which could be folded down to the deck level.

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was again a vital weapon in naval warfare. With steam power freeing ships from the wind, iron construction increasing their structural strength, and armor making them invulnerable to shellfire, the ram seemed to offer the opportunity to strike a decisive blow.

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was the only way to sink an ironclad became widespread. The increasing size and weight of guns also meant a movement away from the ships mounting many guns broadside, in the manner of a ship-of-the-line, towards a handful of guns in turrets for all-round fire.

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construction for warships offered advantages for the engineering of the hull. However, unarmored iron had many military disadvantages, and offered technical problems which kept wooden hulls in use for many years, particularly for long-range cruising warships.

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The adoption of iron armor meant that the traditional naval armament of dozens of light cannon became useless, since their shot would bounce off an armored hull. To penetrate armor, increasingly heavy guns were mounted on ships; nevertheless, the view that

3598: 875:, many of which saw action, but their attempts to buy ironclads overseas were frustrated as European nations confiscated ships being built for the Confederacy – especially in Russia, the only country to openly support the Union through the war. Only 1062:

followed both sides were frustrated by the lack of damage inflicted by guns, and by the difficulty of ramming—nonetheless, the effective ramming attack being made by the Austrian flagship against the Italian attracted great attention in following years.

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mortars that were at their disposal, they might have quickly turned the tide, for the attacking British ironclads found it easy (for accuracy's sake) to simply anchor whilst firing—perfect targets for high-angle fire upon their thinly armored topdecks.

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remarkably survived close actions with four Italian ironclads. The battle ensured the popularity of the ram as a weapon in European ironclads for many years, and the victory won by Austria established it as the predominant naval power in the

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around her collar and addressing the sea god Neptune. Note the ram sticking out of Britannia's breast plate. The caption reads: OVER-WEIGHTED. Britannia. "Look here, Father Nep! I can't stand it much longer! Who's to 'rule the waves' in

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of the 1890s tended to be smaller in caliber compared to the ships of the 1880s, most often 12 in (305 mm), but progressively grew in length of barrel, making use of improved propellants to gain greater muzzle velocity.

161:(as in the case with smaller ships and later torpedo boats), which several naval designers considered the important weapons of naval combat. There is no clear end to the ironclad period, but toward the end of the 1890s, the term 1931:

was only semi-armored, and could have been disabled by hits on the bow and stern. As the thickness of armor grew to protect ships from the increasingly heavy guns, the area of the ship which could be fully protected diminished.

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possible, so the British at times considered the risk-laden plan of engaging an enemy fleet in harbor as soon as war broke out. To this end, the Royal Navy developed a series of 'coast-defense battleships', starting with the

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By the end of the 1850s it was clear that France was unable to match British building of steam warships, and to regain the strategic initiative a dramatic change was required. The result was the first ocean-going ironclad,

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A lighter alternative to the turret, particularly popular with the French navy, was the barbette. These were fixed armored towers which held a gun on a turntable. The crew was sheltered from direct fire, but vulnerable to

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of 1865; the French laid down centre-battery ironclads in 1865 which were not completed until 1870. Centre-battery ships often, but not always, had a recessed freeboard enabling some of their guns to fire directly ahead.

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The Civil War saw more ironclads built by both sides, and they played an increasing role in the naval war alongside the unarmored warships, commerce raiders and blockade runners. The Union built a large fleet of fifty

2042:, launched in 1876 but not commissioned until 1881, was the last British battleship to carry masts, and these were widely seen as a mistake. The start of the 1880s saw the end of sailing rig on ironclad battleships. 1566:

was the simpler and, during the 1860s and 1870s, the more popular method. Concentrating guns amidships meant the ship could be shorter and handier than a broadside type. The first full-scale center-battery ship was

2464:. Thanks to superior short-range firepower, the Japanese fleet came off better, sinking or severely damaging eight ships and receiving serious damage to only four. The naval war was concluded the next year at the 1303:

also had the virtue of being lighter than an equivalent smoothbore and, because of their rifling, more accurate. Nonetheless, the design was rejected because of problems which plagued breech-loaders for decades.

1327:, while sometimes the screw which closed the breech flew backwards out of the gun on firing. Similar problems were experienced with the breech-loading guns which became standard in the French and German navies. 698:) were obliged to concentrate their armor in a central "citadel" or "armoured box", leaving many main deck guns and the fore and aft sections of the vessel unprotected. The use of iron in the construction of 1613:

represented two opposite extremes in what an 'Ironclad' was all about. The most dramatic attempt to compromise these two extremes, or 'squaring this circle', was designed by Captain Cowper Phipps Coles:

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There is no clearly defined end to the ironclad, besides the transition from wood hulls to all-metal. Ironclads continued to be used in World War I. Towards the end of the 19th century, the descriptions

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The French navy built the first ironclad to try to gain a strategic advantage over the British, but were consistently out-built by the British. Despite taking the lead with a number of innovations like

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These problems influenced the British to equip ships with muzzle-loading weapons of increasing power until the 1880s. After a brief introduction of the 100-pounder or 9.2-inch (230 mm) smoothbore

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s wooden hull was modelled on that of a steam ship of the line, reduced to one deck, and sheathed in iron plates 4.5 inches (114 mm) thick. She was propelled by a steam engine, driving a single

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ordered a series of experiments to evaluate what happened when thin iron hulls were struck by projectiles, both solid shot and hollow shells, beginning in 1845 and lasting through 1851. Critics like

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and found it superior to compound armor. For several years 'Harvey steel' was the state of the art, produced in the U.S., France, Germany, Britain, Austria and Italy. In 1894, the German firm

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The first ironclads were built on wooden or iron hulls, and protected by wrought iron armor backed by thick wooden planking. Ironclads were still being built with wooden hulls into the 1870s.

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The quick pace of change meant that many ships were obsolete almost as soon as they were finished and that naval tactics were in a state of flux. Many ironclads were built to make use of the

2214:, a British fleet opened fire on the fortifications around the port of Alexandria. A mixture of centre-battery and turret ships bombarded Egyptian positions for most of a day, forcing the 667:. The ships had a successful design, though there were necessarily compromises between 'sea-keeping', strategic range and armor protection. Their weapons were more effective than those of 1350:

reloading by hand, and complicated hydraulic systems were required for reloading the gun outside the turret without exposing the crew to enemy fire. In 1882, the 81-ton, 16-inch guns of

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Breech-loading guns seemed to offer important advantages. A breech-loader could be reloaded without moving the gun, a lengthy process particularly if the gun then needed to be re-aimed.

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while shells bounced off their armor. The battle attracted attention worldwide, making it clear that the wooden warship was now out of date, with the ironclads destroying them easily.

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British ships did not participate in any major wars in the ironclad period. The Royal Navy's ironclads only saw action as part of colonial battles or one-sided engagements like the

2098:, which was completed in 1888. While sailing rigs were obsolescent for all purposes by the end of the 1880s, rigged ships were in service until the early years of the 20th century. 1375:

In the Royal Navy, the switch to breech-loaders was finally made in 1879; as well as the significant advantages in terms of performance, opinion was swayed by an explosion on board

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The era of the wooden steam ship-of-the-line was brief, because of new, more powerful naval guns. In the 1820s and 1830s, warships began to mount increasingly heavy guns, replacing

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school of naval thought; it appeared that any ship armored enough to prevent destruction by gunfire would be slow enough to be easily caught by torpedo. In practice, however, the

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gun-proof vessels and that plans would be communicated. After tests in September 1854, the British Admiralty agreed to build five armored floating batteries on the French plans.

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The ironclad became technically feasible and tactically necessary because of developments in shipbuilding in the first half of the 19th century. According to naval historian

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made a great impact against Chilean shipping, delaying Chilean ground invasion by six months. She was eventually caught by two more modern Chilean centre-battery ironclads,

1621:. It was a dangerously low freeboard turret ship, which nevertheless carried a full rig of sail and subsequently capsized not long after her launch in 1870. Her half-sister 1880:

of 1882). The French and German navies adopted the innovation almost immediately, with licenses being given for the use of the 'Wilson System' of producing fused armor.

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were examples of this type. Because their armor was so heavy, they could only carry a single row of guns along the main deck on each side rather than a row on each deck.

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arrived too late to participate to the action at Kinburn. The British planned to use theirs in the Baltic Sea against the well-fortified Russian naval base at Kronstadt.

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The proliferation of ironclad battleship designs came to an end in the 1890s as navies reached a consensus on the design of battleships, producing the type known as the

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but was unable to inflict significant damage upon the Callao defences. Besides, Peru was able to deploy two locally built ironclads based on American Civil War designs,

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Russia built a number of ironclads, generally copies of British or French designs. Nonetheless, there were real innovations from Russia; the first true type of ironclad

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While ironclads spread rapidly in navies worldwide, there were few pitched naval battles involving ironclads. Most European nations settled differences on land, and the

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and steel construction, the French navy could never match the size of the Royal Navy. In the 1870s, the construction of ironclads ceased for a while in France as the

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which combusted more slowly again. It also put less stress on the insides of the barrel, allowing guns to last longer and to be manufactured to tighter tolerances.

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also came with some drawbacks; iron hulls required more regular and intensive repairs than wooden hulls, and iron was more susceptible to fouling by marine life.

604:(24 km/h; 15 mph). She was armed with thirty-six 6.4-inch (160 mm) rifled guns. France proceeded to construct 16 ironclad warships, including two 1437:

The nature of the projectiles also changed during the ironclad period. Initially, the best armor-piercing projectile was a solid cast-iron shot. Later, shot of

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problems led to broadside designs being superseded by designs that gave greater all-round fire, which included central-battery, turret, and barbette designs.

242:'s ambition to gain greater influence in Europe required a sustained challenge to the British at sea. The first purpose-built steam battleship was the 90-gun 1751:

Wooden hulls continued to be used for long-range and smaller ironclads, because iron nevertheless had a significant disadvantage. Iron hulls suffered quick

516:. The role of the battery was to assist unarmored mortar and gunboats bombarding shore fortifications. The French used three of their ironclad batteries ( 560:

to the work of the navy. The brief success of the floating ironclad batteries convinced France to begin work on armored warships for their battlefleet.

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during the American Civil War, between Union and Confederate ships in 1862. These were markedly different from the broadside-firing, masted designs of

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and also preventing the shock of a hit damaging the structure of the ship. Later, wood and iron were combined in 'sandwich' armor, for instance in HMS

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On the western front, the Union built a formidable force of river ironclads, beginning with several converted riverboats and then contracting engineer

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and disintegrated when struck by shells. Steel became practical to use when a way was found to fuse steel onto wrought iron plates, giving a form of

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The armament of ironclads tended to become concentrated in a small number of powerful guns capable of penetrating the armor of enemy ships at range;

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than a ship-of-the-line. The requirement for speed meant a very long vessel, which had to be built from iron. The result was the construction of two

2071:, laid down in 1870 and completed in 1875, was a model of a fast, long-range ironclad which was likely to be able to outrun and outfight ships like 2101:

The final evolution of ironclad propulsion was the adoption of the triple-expansion steam engine, a further refinement which was first adopted in

1913:, laid down in 1895, was the first ship to benefit from the new 'Krupp armor' and the new armor was quickly adopted; the Royal Navy using it from 2452:. The IJN continued to develop its strength and commissioned a number of warships from British and European shipyards, first ironclads and later 1248:

and weight of guns increased markedly to achieve greater penetration. Throughout the ironclad era navies also grappled with the complexities of

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would be the future of warships. Like the British, the French navy saw little action with its ironclads; the French blockade of Germany in the

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The revival of ramming had a significant effect on naval tactics. Since the 17th century the predominant tactic of naval warfare had been the

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allows for greater structural strength for a lower weight. The French Navy led the way with the use of steel in its fleet, starting with the

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The weakness of the breech-loader was the obvious problem of sealing the breech. All guns are powered by the explosive conversion of a solid

551: 545: 366: 5219: 413:

for the East India Company in 1839. There followed, also from Laird, the first full-sized warship with a metal hull, the 1842 steam frigate

4653: 4490: 1628:

was restricted to firing from her turrets only on the port and starboard beams. The third Royal Navy ship to combine turrets and masts was

4234: 3674: 4485: 86:

constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or

4534: 2718:, built 1867, has been partially sunk as a breakwater in Victoria, Australia, but is not preserved and is deteriorating in the elements. 2401: 446: 2052: 1162: 537: 979:

monitors for use on the rivers, the first two of which differed from the ocean-going monitors in that they contained a paddle wheel (

885:

Through the remainder of the war, ironclads saw action in the Union's attacks on Confederate ports. Seven Union monitors, including

5558: 4437: 4418: 4399: 4381: 4357: 4339: 4301: 4253: 4184: 4165: 4149: 4106: 4088: 4062: 4029: 4003: 3984: 3941: 3923: 3885: 3866: 3840: 3773: 3755: 3733: 3710: 3486: 904: 2373: 3788:

Brook, Peter; Beasecker, Robert; Lee, Anthony J. & Millar, Steve (2001). "Question 39/00: British Bombardment of Alexandria".

1483:

The first British, French and Russian ironclads, in a logical development of warship design from the long preceding era of wooden

403:

instead of wood as the primary material of ships' hulls began in the 1830s; the first "warship" with an iron hull was the gunboat

2395: 465: 223:

warships had been used from the 1830s onward, steam propulsion only became suitable for major warships after the adoption of the

4480: 2263: 1927:

Ironclad construction also prefigured the later debate in battleship design between tapering and 'all-or-nothing' armor design.

671:, and with the largest set of steam engines yet fitted to a ship, they could steam at 14.3 knots (26.5 km/h). Yet the 5424: 3599:"Juan Bautista Antequera y Boadila. El héroe de la Numancia que fundó la Revista General de Marina y previó el desastre del 98" 2692: 2357: 2066: 1169: 1066: 458: 259:

The introduction of the steam ship-of-the-line led to a building competition between France and Britain. Eight sister ships to

1405:

Another method of increasing firepower was to vary the projectile fired or the nature of the propellant. Early ironclads used

1001:

than by enemy fire, and the most damaging fire for the Union ironclads was from shore installations, not Confederate vessels.

769:. She had been converted from a commercial vessel in New Orleans for river and coastal fighting. In February 1862, the larger 726: 4730: 2384:

in 1879, both Peru and Chile had ironclad warships, including some of those used a few years previously against Spain. While

1869:. This compound armor was used by the British in ships built from the late 1870s, first for turret armor (starting with HMS 1732:

more vulnerable to solid shot; iron was more brittle than wood, and iron frames more likely to fall out of shape than wood.

333:

It is often held that the power of explosive shells to smash wooden hulls, as demonstrated by the Russian destruction of an

243: 193: 1442: 2304:, and it was the modern pre-Dreadnoughts and armored cruisers built in the 1890s which defeated the Spanish fleet in the 1289:, were intended to be the next generation of heavy armament for the Royal Navy, but were shortly withdrawn from service. 5116: 2498:. These ships are sometimes covered in treatments of the ironclad warship. The next evolution of battleship design, the 2441: 2435: 2418: 1426: 1394: 1053: 876: 766: 619: 256:(22 km/h; 14 mph), regardless of the wind conditions: a potentially decisive advantage in a naval engagement. 5399: 5245: 4590: 2461: 2315: 1323:

s Armstrong guns suffered from both problems; the shells were unable to penetrate the 4.5-inch (114 mm) armor of

1693:

was only briefly influential and the torpedo formed part of the confusing mixture of weapons possessed by ironclads.

1655:

as naval weapons, which helped complicate the design and tactics of ironclad fleets. The first torpedoes were static

1635:

of 1876, which carried two turrets on either side of the center-line, allowing both to fire fore, aft and broadside.

5586: 5446: 4828: 4565: 4130: 2351: 2259: 2189: 1783: 1760: 1706: 1529: 1430: 442: 165:

dropped out of use. New ships were increasingly constructed to a standard pattern and designated as battleships or

4101:. Roger Chesneau, Eugène M. Koleśnik, N. J. M. Campbell (1st American ed.). New York: Mayflower Books. 1979. 1978: 1799:

for steel manufacture produced too many imperfections for large-scale use on ships. French manufacturers used the

1009: 5341: 5010: 4886: 4785: 4775: 2703: 2638: 2538: 2337: 2203: 1072: 31: 2305: 1670:. Invented in 1868 and deployed in the 1870s, it formed part of the armament of ironclads of the 1880s like HMS 5419: 5409: 5336: 4979: 4837: 3743: 3717: 2758: 2273: 2255: 1908: 1744:. Iron could be produced to order and used immediately, in contrast to the need to give wood a long period of 1274: 529: 424: 410: 380: 1681:. The ironclad's vulnerability to the torpedo was a key part of the critique of armored warships made by the 5209: 5015: 4725: 4527: 2670: 2045:

Sails persisted on 'cruising ironclads' for much longer. During the 1860s, the French navy had produced the

1861:

Steel was also an obvious material for armor. It was tested in the 1860s, but the steel of the time was too

1795:

Even though Britain led the world in steel production, the Royal Navy was slow to adopt steel warships. The

1158: 856: 730: 661: 613: 115: 65: 1803:

to produce adequate steel, but British technology lagged behind. The first all-steel warships built by the

114:, when ironclads operated against wooden ships and, in a historic confrontation, against each other at the 5204: 5091: 5055: 5050: 4876: 4780: 2603: 2564: 2431: 2196: 2112:

to get additional power from their engines, and this system was widely used until the introduction of the

2102: 1995: 1952: 1800: 1766: 1568: 1542: 1492: 1232: 1175: 1021: 1014: 777: 715: 647: 584: 573: 461: 94: 5581: 5291: 5240: 5136: 5040: 5035: 4755: 4498: 2224: 2036: 2021: 1675: 1629: 1366: 1351: 765:

became the first ironclad to enter combat, when she fought Union warships on the Mississippi during the

693: 323: 311: 2872: 2583: 2389: 2363: 2282: 2262:, who conceived the design). The Russian Navy pioneered the wide-scale use of torpedo boats during the 1825: 1429:

in 1884 was a further step allowing smaller charges of propellant with longer barrels. The guns of the

4601: 1285:

highlighted the challenges of picking the right armament; the breech-loaders she carried, designed by

568: 536:, where they were effective against Russian shore defences. They would later be used again during the 457:

The early experimental results seemed to support the critics and party politics came into play as the

5517: 5121: 5070: 4813: 4695: 4406: 3634: 2380:

on 20 September 1867, and earning the motto: "Enloricata navis que primo terram circuivit" ). In the

2168:

The United Kingdom possessed the largest navy in the world for the whole of the ironclad period. The

2059: 1563: 1376: 1346: 926: 922: 781: 468: 1792:

nonetheless had wrought iron armor plate, and part of her exterior hull was iron rather than steel.

5553: 5371: 5060: 4923: 4765: 2592: 2560: 2465: 2325: 2240: 2092: 2046: 1874: 1221: 944: 800: 387: 299: 295: 138: 123: 2058:

as small, long-range ironclads as overseas cruisers and the British had responded with ships like

1382:

caused by a gun being double-loaded, a problem which could only happen with a muzzle-loading gun.

5487: 5351: 5306: 5199: 5101: 5065: 5045: 4944: 4770: 4665: 4520: 4124: 4039: 2570: 2533: 2520: 2381: 2267: 2076: 1914: 1830: 1808: 1622: 1615: 1498: 1473: 1267: 1045: 1041: 959: 908: 886: 752: 687: 654: 631: 428: 327: 307: 287: 252:

was armed as a conventional ship-of-the-line, but her steam engines could give her a speed of 12

143: 111: 90: 3958:

Turret Versus Broadside: An Anatomy of British Naval Prestige, Revolution and Disaster 1860–1870

939: 642:

could make her invulnerable to enemy fire. The British specification was more a large, powerful

3678: 2510: 2440:(Japanese: 甲鉄, literally "Ironclad", later renamed Azuma 東, "East") had a decisive role in the 791:

originally was a conventional warship made of wood, but she was converted into an iron-covered

355: 310:

guns firing explosive shells were introduced following their development by the French Général

5522: 5472: 5414: 5404: 5171: 5025: 4903: 4843: 4690: 4585: 4462: 4452: 4433: 4414: 4395: 4377: 4361: 4353: 4335: 4316: 4297: 4281: 4268: 4249: 4223: 4199: 4180: 4161: 4145: 4112: 4102: 4084: 4058: 4025: 3999: 3980: 3961: 3945: 3937: 3919: 3900: 3881: 3862: 3836: 3817: 3797: 3777: 3769: 3751: 3729: 3706: 3482: 2728: 2696: 2449: 2407: 2301: 2297: 2278: 2178: 2147: 2035:

sail; and the fashion for turrets and barbettes made a sailing rig increasingly inconvenient.

1667: 1488: 1465: 1387: 1187: 1078: 980: 897: 868: 822: 815: 792: 498: 216: 87: 3658: 2184:

The British prepared for an overwhelming mortar bombardment of Kronstadt by the close of the

1778:

After 1872, steel started to be introduced as a material for construction. Compared to iron,

1058: – a double-turreted ram. Opposing them, the Austrian navy had seven ironclad frigates. 471:

in 1846. The new administration sided with the critics and ordered that the four iron-hulled

5507: 5441: 5394: 5376: 5326: 5156: 5020: 4964: 4959: 4954: 4861: 4717: 4675: 4670: 4555: 2751: 2649: 2613: 2343: 2288: 2157: 2153: 2143: 1975: 1796: 1745: 1659:, used extensively in the American Civil War. That conflict also saw the development of the 1484: 1422: 1194:

The ram finally fell out of favor in the 1880s, as the same effect could be achieved with a

1120: 987: 796: 744: 509: 363: 350: 204: 119: 2773:

This term was still in use in the 1860s and 1870s for what we would now call 'battleships'.

2082:, often described as the first British armored cruiser, would have been too slow to outrun 1537: 675:

and her sisters had full iron-armor protection along the waterline and the battery itself.

230:

Steam-powered screw frigates were built in the mid-1840s, and at the end of the decade the

203:

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, fleets had relied on two types of major warship, the

5431: 5361: 5286: 5184: 4918: 4898: 4866: 4823: 4790: 4735: 4680: 4580: 4212: 4013: 2495: 2488: 2453: 2356:(a small monitor armed with a single 68-pdr gun), as well as two British-built ironclads: 2247: 1438: 1331: 1313: 1237: 1025: 951: 597: 490: 338: 224: 178: 166: 46: 2207: 489:

Following the demonstration of the power of explosive shells against wooden ships at the

118:

in Virginia. Their performance demonstrated that the ironclad had replaced the unarmored

1020:

The first fleet battle, and the first ocean battle, involving ironclad warships was the

871:

modeled on their namesake. The Confederacy built ships designed as smaller versions of

5301: 5296: 5281: 5151: 4913: 4750: 4137: 3809: 2109: 1896: 1892: 1866: 1460: 1261: 1257: 1183: 1040:

and ironclad warships on both sides in the largest naval battle between the battles of

998: 450: 404: 334: 235: 220: 2017: 1755:

by marine life, slowing the ships down—manageable for a European battlefleet close to

1115: 314:. By the 1840s they were part of the standard armament for naval powers including the 5575: 5537: 5532: 5497: 5482: 5436: 5346: 5331: 5189: 5131: 5126: 5030: 4908: 4893: 4881: 4871: 4760: 4740: 4575: 4220:

The Gun, Ram and Torpedo, Manoeuvres and Tactics of a Naval Battle of the Present Day

4077: 3918:. Vol. 2: The Ironclads, 1842–1885. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. 3722: 2748: 2712: 2542: 2457: 2113: 2028: 1640: 1586: 1300: 1240:

invented by de Bange allowed the effective sealing of breeches in breech-loading guns

1211: 811: 494: 415: 142:

development of heavier naval guns, more sophisticated steam engines, and advances in

1206: 882:

was completed, and she arrived in Cuban waters just in time for the end of the war.

17: 5492: 5477: 5316: 5311: 5250: 5194: 5161: 4994: 4989: 4795: 4241: 4072: 2631: 2232: 2211: 2010: 1904: 1843: 1724: 1660: 1590: 1520: 1415: 1362: 1345:

From 1875 onwards, the balance between breech- and muzzle-loading changed. Captain

1029: 770: 759: 501: 441:

Encouraged by the positive reports of the iron hulls of those ships in combat, the

420: 400: 283: 273: 239: 76: 51: 38: 4175:

Lambert, Andrew (1992). "The Screw Propeller Warship". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.).

4156:

Lambert, Andrew (1992). "Iron Hulls and Armour Plate". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.).

1987:

Ships designed for coastal warfare, like the floating batteries of the Crimea, or

278: 4018: 3998:. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 170–178. 3880:. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 158–169. 2623:. The replica was laid down in February 2005 and completed just two months later. 5527: 5366: 5265: 5141: 5096: 4984: 4833: 4818: 4570: 4296:. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 95–111. 4292:

Roberts, John (1992). "Warships of Steel 1879–1889". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.).

3876:

Campbell, John (1992). "Naval Armaments and Armour". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.).

2757:

though she was completed as an aircraft carrier and her guns were fitted to the

2685: 2674: 2617: 2607: 2553: 2528: 2499: 2468:, where the strongest remaining Chinese ships were surrendered to the Japanese. 2413: 2228: 2185: 2136:

Seagoing ships intended to "stand in the line of battle"; the precursors of the

1988: 1772: 1701: 1684: 1579: 915: 840: 804: 737: 605: 601: 513: 483: 359: 315: 253: 231: 212: 158: 100: 83: 58: 4413:. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 61–74. 4179:. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 30–46. 4160:. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 47–60. 3835:. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 75–94. 2311: 1487:, carried their weapons in a single line along their sides and so were called " 718:(1866), also had an important influence on the development of ironclad design. 5512: 5321: 5255: 4805: 4705: 4632: 4544: 3977:

Ironclads at War: The Origin and Development of the Armored Warship, 1854–1891

2656: 2577: 2515: 2484: 2477: 2445: 2324:

Ironclads were widely used in South America. Both sides used ironclads in the

2169: 2137: 2125: 1804: 1656: 1552: 1469: 1358: 1308: 1278: 1253: 967: 512:

were deployed in 1855 as a supplement to the wooden steam battle fleet in the

319: 303: 130: 104: 3934:

Clad in Iron: The American Civil War and the Challenge of British Naval Power

3831:

Brown, David K. (1992). "The Era of Uncertainty". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.).

3801: 5386: 5260: 5075: 4969: 4949: 4512: 4466: 3750:. Classics of Naval Literature. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. 2663: 2596: 2548:

A number of ironclads have been preserved or reconstructed as museum ships.

2215: 1970: 1602: 1441:, a harder iron alloy, gave better armor-piercing qualities. Eventually the 1406: 1142: 1125: 1103: 971: 847:

The first battle between ironclads happened on 9 March 1862, as the armored

533: 479: 189: 150: 4116: 1365:. The 102-long-ton (104 t), 450 mm (17.72 inch) guns of the 925:, the Union assembled four monitors as well as 11 wooden ships, facing the 4142:

Battleships in Transition: The Creation of the Steam Battlefleet 1815–1860

3949: 2372:, was the first ironclad to circumnavigate the world under the command of 855:

and other Confederate warships. In this engagement, the second day of the

5502: 5235: 5106: 4745: 4700: 4227: 3994:

Griffiths, Denis (1992). "Warship Machinery". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.).

3781: 3675:"Northrop Grumman Employees Reconstruct History with USS Monitor Replica" 2377: 2236: 1851: 1850:, the strongest shipbuilding wood. The wood played two roles, preventing 1756: 1556: 1525: 1086: 1037: 975: 955: 947: 541: 4365: 1895:

nickel-steel. In 1890, the U.S. Navy tested steel armor hardened by the

5456: 5356: 5214: 5111: 4974: 4853: 4636: 4449:

The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889

4235:

Northrop Grumman Employees Reconstruct History with USS Monitor Replica

3640:

was the first British capital ship to be routinely called a battleship.

1862: 1752: 1711:(1876), the first battleship to use steel as the main building material 1652: 1508:

adversary at a time, and the rigging did not impede the field of fire.

1335: 1249: 1245: 1195: 1033: 997:

their intended use. More Western Flotilla Union ironclads were sunk by

933: 851:

was deployed to protect the Union's wooden fleet from the ironclad ram

799:. By this time, the Union had completed seven ironclad gunboats of the 643: 627: 475: 208: 154: 134: 79: 30:"Ironclad" and "Broadside ironclad" redirect here. For other uses, see 1994:

and her sisters, dispensed with masts from the beginning. The British

1883:

The first ironclads to have all-steel armor were the two ships of the

5451: 5179: 5146: 2588:

is berthed at the port of Talcahuano, Chile, on display for visitors.

2417:

The Confederacy's French-built last ironclad was also Japan's first:

2108:, laid down in 1885 and commissioned in 1891. Many ships also used a 1775:, but one was built of iron and the other of composite construction. 1410: 1186:, where a fleet formed a long line to give it the best fire from its 1838:

Iron-built ships used wood as part of their protection scheme. HMS

1425:, based on nitroglycerine or nitrocellulose, by the French inventor 431:

reporting that he thought that there were fewer iron splinters from

107:. However, Britain built the first completely iron-hulled warships. 1338:

increasing from 8 inches (203 mm) to 16 inches (406 mm).

1141:

From the 1860s to the 1880s many naval designers believed that the

921:

participated in the defense of the harbor. For the later attack at

4939: 2747:

The Royal Navy did build 18-inch (457 mm) guns for the light

2524:, showing huge armored land vessels, equipped with Pedrail wheels. 2509: 2412: 2333: 2310: 2272: 2016: 1969: 1948: 1947: 1900: 1824: 1779: 1700: 1666:

A more practical and influential weapon was the self-propelled or

1536: 1519: 1459: 1414:

further step forward was the introduction of chemically different

1231: 1220: 1205: 1114: 1008: 938: 830: 725: 626: 567: 472: 386: 354: 277: 188: 45: 3072:

Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Design and Development, 1860–1905

2559:

have been recovered and are being conserved and displayed at the

1589:. A competing turret design was proposed by the British inventor 129:

Ironclads were designed for several uses, including as high-seas

4053:

Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977).

2537:

in a short story published in 1903, to describe fictional large

2329: 1847: 1585:

in 1862, with a type of turret designed by the Swedish engineer

211:. The first major change to these types was the introduction of 4605: 4516: 1161:

and the spectacular but lucky success of the Austrian flagship

482:. No iron warships would be ordered until the beginning of the 3766:

Birth of the Battleship: British Capital Ship Design 1870–1881

2009:

During the 1860s, steam engines improved with the adoption of

1740:, built of iron, was longer and faster than the wooden-hulled 302:

with 32-pounders on sailing ships-of-the-line and introducing

4409:(1992). "The American Civil War". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). 3814:

Before the Ironclad: Warship Design and Development 1815–1860

2320:

being fitted after its conversion in the Callao harbour, 1864

2254:

of the 1870s, and a set of unusual but moderately-successful

2116:

in the middle of the first decade of the Twentieth Century.

493:, and fearing that his own ships would be vulnerable to the 4432:. Vol. 1. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. 3218:

pp. 7–11, 118–119, 173, 267–268, 286–287, 301, 337–339, 389

2243:

was ineffective, as the war was settled entirely on land.

612:, and the only two-decked broadside ironclads ever built, 4286:

Our Ironclad Ships, their Qualities, Performance and Cost

3936:. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Security International. 2231:

school of naval thought took prominence, suggesting that

4486:

Ironclads and Blockade Runners of the American Civil War

810:, an innovative design proposed by the Swedish inventor 4411: