CHAPTER VIISHIPS OF WAR

Muchof the story of ships is contained in the story of ships of war, which, from time immemorial, have been vital factors in the lives of nations. The Egyptians fought battles on the sea. The Greeks saved their civilization from the armies of Xerxes by defeating the ships of the Persians at Salamis. Rome defeated Carthage because Rome secured the upper hand on the sea. It is true that much of the story of the Punic Wars is the story of Hannibal and Hamilcar, but while Hannibal marched his army from Spain across the Pyrenees, across France, across the Alps, and finally into Italy, where he spent years harrying the land, Carthage owed her downfall to the ships of Rome, as Hannibal owed his final defeat by Scipio Africanus to those ships. Similarly Napoleon, two thousand years later, owed the collapse of his plans not so much to the defeats he suffered on land as the defeats he suffered on the sea at the hands of Nelson and the British Navy.

It is not, however, within the province of this book to discuss wars and battles on the sea. The person interested in that important subject should read Admiral A. T. Mahan’s “The Influence of Sea Power upon History” in order to gain a clear picture of the great phases of that subject. But all of this is outside the range of this book, which deals only with the types of ships and their development.

The first warships of which history gives any account were those of the Egyptians. They differed little from the other ships of the time except in having affixed to their bowsa metal ram. This, however, was well above water. When these ships were in action the sail was rolled up and made fast by loops of line to the upper yard. They were driven by large paddles, and were steered, as well, by paddles, many being required. Egyptologists tell us that the Egyptians, between 3000 and 1000 B. C., fought occasional naval battles with people as far distant as those of Sicily, for Egypt seemed to have a fascination for all the Mediterranean peoples even of this early day, and occasional forays were made against the Egyptian coast.

AN ENGLISH WARSHIP OF THE TIME OF HENRY VBy the time this ship was built hulls had grown considerably in size over what they had been at the time of William the Conqueror, and the era of lavish decoration was well under way. The numerous decks of this ship were not unusual for the time.

AN ENGLISH WARSHIP OF THE TIME OF HENRY V

By the time this ship was built hulls had grown considerably in size over what they had been at the time of William the Conqueror, and the era of lavish decoration was well under way. The numerous decks of this ship were not unusual for the time.

The Phœnicians came next as a sea-going people, and itwas they who so greatly developed ships. So little, however, is known of Phœnician ships that it is necessary, in this hurried account, to pass them by in order to take up the Greek ships of which many records are still extant.

In Chapter I, I have mentioned the galleys, but there are many things concerning them upon which it is interesting to enlarge.

These ancient war vessels are divided into two major types—“aphract,” or those which had no protection for the topmost tier of rowers, and “cataphract,” or those that had a raised bulwark which shielded them from the sight and arrows of the enemy. These two words mean, literally, “unfenced” and “fenced.” In other words, the cataphract ships had a “fence” built up above their sides to shield the oarsmen, while on the aphract ships this “fence” was not installed. Both these types had upper and lower decks, although the cataphract type was higher than the other.

The oars used on these ships were not so large as one might think. On a trireme, or three-banked ship, the oars of the upper bank were about fourteen feet long; the next lower oars were about ten and a half feet, and the oars of the lowest bank were about seven and a half feet long. Even the topmost oars on the “tessereconteres,” or forty-banked ship, which some questionable authorities mention as having been built, are said to have been but fifty-three feet long, but as the seats of the rowers are said to have been two feet apart vertically it is difficult to see how a fifty-three foot oar, of which perhaps a third was inside the ship, could have reached to the water. But these forty-banked ships sound more like imaginary craft than like real ships.

In the cataphract ships the lower deck was only about a foot above the water line. Below this deck was the ballast, and through the deck were cut a number of hatches through which buckets could be lowered in order to bail out the almostever-present bilge water, for these ships, particularly when they were subjected to the strains coincident to sailing in a seaway, were more than likely to leak at an uncomfortably rapid rate.

A BRITISH LINE-OF-BATTLE SHIP, 1790This awkward ship is one of the type that made up the great fleets that fought, for instance, at Trafalgar. Nelson’s flagship, theVictory,is of this type.

A BRITISH LINE-OF-BATTLE SHIP, 1790

This awkward ship is one of the type that made up the great fleets that fought, for instance, at Trafalgar. Nelson’s flagship, theVictory,is of this type.

The backbone of these ships was a heavy keel, below which was fitted a false keel, used, apparently, to take the wear that resulted from hauling the ships up on to the beach.

Above the keel a keelson, similar to the keelsons of to-day, was fitted, strengthening the keel and serving, also, as a strengthener to the ribs which were fastened beneath it.

The bows of these ships were very strongly constructed, for battle tactics called for the use of the ram. The ram,instead of being above the water, as it was on the older Egyptian ships, was at the water level, and was strengthened by the heavy timbers which formed the stem. In order to strengthen the hull still more, and to prevent as much as possible the strain of ramming from springing the seams, strong cables were wound once or twice around the whole hull from bow to stern. These were drawn up with levers and bound the ship tightly together, particularly as the cables shrank when they were wet. All these precautions were essential, for the ram on these ships was about ten feet long, and was seconded by a somewhat shorter ram above the water line.

The Athenian triremes were all about the same size—about one hundred and thirty feet long—and most of their equipment was standardized so that it was really interchangeable. The crews of these ships numbered a few more than two hundred. The rowers numbered one hundred and seventy, and there were ten or a dozen marines and about a score of seamen.

In building these triremes the frame was first set up and the ribs were covered on both sides with planking. Then around the outside of the ship at the water line a heavy timber was attached which, at the forward end, was carried out to form the ram, which was heavily sheathed with metal. A little above this strengthening timber there was another one similarly built, ending in the secondary ram, which sometimes had at its end a metal sheep’s head. Sometimes a third line of timbers was placed above this.

Running from bow to stern on both sides just above the topmost oars was a narrow platform, built out about two feet wide from the side of the ship. The ribs as they continued upward from this point curved inward, and their ends supported the cross beams that bound the ship together over the rowers’ heads and also served to support the deck.On this deck the marines, or heavily armed warriors, were placed in battle, while over their heads was stretched a stout awning of leather to protect them from the enemies’ arrows. The runways at the sides served as passageways and were used by the sailors in working the ship.

THE AMERICAN FRIGATECONSTITUTIONThis ship set a new style in frigates, for she was the largest and most heavily armed frigate of her time when she was launched. She is still to be seen at Boston, and seems but a little thing in contrast with ships of to-day.

THE AMERICAN FRIGATECONSTITUTION

This ship set a new style in frigates, for she was the largest and most heavily armed frigate of her time when she was launched. She is still to be seen at Boston, and seems but a little thing in contrast with ships of to-day.

At the stern there were several steps in the deck elevating it gradually above the midship deck. Here the officer in command was stationed near the helmsman, who was second in command, and who steered the ship by a cleverly arranged pair of oars—one on each side, connected and operated by ropes and pulleys.

The bow was decorated by an erection sometimes shaped like a swan’s neck which was a continuation of the stem. The stern also had a highly raised timber running up andcurving forward over the helmsman. These ships usually carried two masts, each spreading a single square sail, but sail was not carried in action. Often, as a matter of fact, the sails and the heavier spars were left ashore if a battle was imminent.

These galleys, for many centuries, were light craft, meant for speed, but as more strength was demanded in order to make possible hulls that could withstand the shock of ramming, the ships became heavier and heavier, which, in turn, demanded more oarsmen, which, again, brought larger ships into being, until, when Rome became the mistress of the sea, five-banked ships had become the standard, and the three-banked ships were relegated to a second place.

A STEAM FRIGATE—THE U. S. S.HARTFORDWhich was used in the American Civil War by Admiral Farragut.

A STEAM FRIGATE—THE U. S. S.HARTFORD

Which was used in the American Civil War by Admiral Farragut.

Then Rome invented the “corvus” or great hinged gangplank with its heavy barbed end. This gangplank was swung at the forward end of the ship and was loosely hinged to the deck, being kept upright by a tackle holding it to themast. When an enemy’s ship was approached the Romans did not attempt to ram, but ran alongside, let go the tackle, and the heavy corvus fell to the enemy’s deck, where its metal barb fastened itself in the deck planks. Thereupon, the soldiers, with whom the Romans crowded the decks of their ships, rushed across and the sea battle became a mêlée.

THEMONITORThe first armoured ship to mount a turret. This is the ship that fought with theMerrimacthe first battle between armoured ships.

THEMONITOR

The first armoured ship to mount a turret. This is the ship that fought with theMerrimacthe first battle between armoured ships.

For nearly two hundred years these heavy ships were the “battleships” of the Roman fleet. But at the Battle of Actium, in 31 B. C., Mark Antony’s ships, which were of this type, were soundly beaten by light, swift two-banked ships called the Liburnian biremes.

Thereupon these Liburnians became the most important ships of war, and later grew into the great galleys of the Middle Ages. The later development, however, tended to the use of one bank, while the oars grew longer and longeruntil they reached such size that several men were used on each—sometimes as many as seven men being employed on a single oar. This form of rowed war vessel was in more or less common use, principally in the Mediterranean, until the beginning of the 17th Century.

In the north of Europe the Viking influence was felt plainly for many years, but finally it was outgrown, or practically outgrown, largely, perhaps, because of the introduction of the raised forecastles and sterncastles, and the introduction of more highly developed rigging.

During the Crusades most of the fleets consisted largely of merchant ships, which were more or less converted into war vessels by the addition of raised castles. These castles were, perhaps, of Roman origin, for the old Roman ships sometimes had somewhat similar contrivances at bow and stern.

The invention of gunpowder brought about many changes in ship design. At first the guns were small and were pivoted in the rails, as they were on Columbus’s ships, but later, as larger cannon came into use, a new arrangement of them became necessary.

Galleys found it difficult to use many cannon, for they could not be mounted amidships, that part of these ships being crowded with rowers, who, by the way, were now seldom below deck. Guns, consequently, had to be mounted at bow and stern, where only a few could be installed. This, then, was one reason for the decline of galleys, for ships driven exclusively by sail were able to mount cannon on deck, where many of them could be carried and fired over the sides.

As ships increased in size it became possible to mount cannon below deck and to cut portholes through which they could fire.

It was along these lines that warships next progressed, until, at the end of the 18th Century, the line-of-battle shipswere great unwieldy affairs with three gun decks below, on which were mounted a hundred guns. Earlier ships had been built which had carried even more guns than this, but the guns had been smaller and consequently less effective.

For those interested in the details of the development of warships from the time of the introduction of gunpowder down to the beginning of steam I recommend two books—“The Royal Navy,” by W. Laird Clowes, and “Ancient and Modern Ships,” by Sir G. C. V. Holmes. I have the space to describe only the final forms that the larger ships took ere the introduction of steam and steel changed radically the design of all naval ships.

THEMERRIMACAn ironclad built by the Confederates during the American Civil War. This ship proved how superior to wooden ships armoured ships could be. She was armed with a ram with which she sank theCumberland,and her armour amply protected her from the enemy’s guns.

THEMERRIMAC

An ironclad built by the Confederates during the American Civil War. This ship proved how superior to wooden ships armoured ships could be. She was armed with a ram with which she sank theCumberland,and her armour amply protected her from the enemy’s guns.

At the end of the 18th Century and the beginning of the19th the greatest warships were called line-of-battle ships. They were great unwieldy affairs, slow and cumbersome under sail, and were meant only to take the shock of battle when rival fleets met. Their sides were high, and below the main deck were three gun-decks, each carrying many cannon that fired through square ports cut in the sides. Sometimes, if the wind was abeam, as it generally was during an engagement, the lower ports on the side away from the wind could not be opened because the deck was so low that the “list” of the ship would have allowed the water to enter, perhaps in such quantities as to sink her. Gradually, however, this lower deck was raised until all the guns on the “lee” side could be used except in heavy weather.

TheVictory, Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, was a typical line-of-battle ship, and in the hearts of Britons she occupies much the same place as with Americans the frigateConstitutionoccupies. These two ships—the one a line-of-battle ship and the other a frigate—are of the two types that, toward the close of the era of sail, were the most important ships of naval powers. They occupied in their day positions similar to those occupied by the battleship and the cruiser of to-day. In describing these two particular vessels, then, I shall be describing not merely two outstanding ships, which, fortunately, are carefully preserved by the countries for which they fought, but shall also be describing the two most important types.

TheVictorywas built in 1765. She is 186 feet long, 52 feet wide, and her tonnage is 2,162. She carried 100 guns on her three gun-decks, and is, in rig, a ship—that is, she carries three masts, spreading square sails, the mast farthest aft carrying as its lowest sail a spanker. Her head sails—that is, the sails at the bow—were jibs set between the foremast and the bowsprit, which was elongated by the addition of a jib boom and a flying jib boom.

Her shape is clumsy, her sides are high, but the highly raised forecastle and sterncastle are entirely missing. A section of the bow is called the forecastle, but only the name is left of the earlier raised structure from which the name came. Astern there is a slight sign of what, centuries before, had been the sterncastle, for there is a raised deck, called the quarter-deck, in evidence. The stern itself is a highly ornamental affair, fitted with many windows and with much scrollwork, and, at least in the eyes of the present day, is anything but nautical in appearance.

A TORPEDO BOATAbout the time of the Spanish-American War these boats were common in the navies of the world. Now they are eliminated, and their successors are the torpedo-boat destroyers, now called destroyers.

A TORPEDO BOAT

About the time of the Spanish-American War these boats were common in the navies of the world. Now they are eliminated, and their successors are the torpedo-boat destroyers, now called destroyers.

This high-sided, bluff-bowed craft carried about seven hundred men in her crew, although where they kept themselves is, to the average person of to-day, a mystery. They slept, of course, in hammocks, and these were lashed to their hooks between decks. So thick were they that when thecrew had turned in the whole deck looked like a cave filled with strange huge bats hanging parallel to the ceiling.

The guns on these ships were crude affairs. They were muzzle loaders, of course, and were generally cast of brass or iron. They were mounted on awkward wooden carriages which were set on four small wheels. But such a weighty implement mounted on wheels needed much careful attention to keep it tightly secured when the ship, once outside her harbour, ceaselessly rolled from side to side, even in an almost glassy sea, and, in a seaway, rolled and pitched and rolled again, until, should one of these wheeled monsters have broken its fastenings, it might readily have become more dangerous than an outside enemy. Victor Hugo’s powerful description of such a scene in “Ninety-three” presents a graphic picture of the danger that such a misfortune would bring with it.

These heavy-wheeled cannon were made fast in their places, each with a square port through which it could fire; and a gun-deck with thirty or more of these polished juggernauts lined up along its two sides, with the decks holystoned, and with the gear of every description carefully stowed in place, had a most businesslike appearance.

In battle, however, with the air thick with powder smoke, with sanded decks and wounded men, with piles of ammunition and half-naked gunners apparently gone mad, with splinters split from oaken beams and gaping holes where the the enemy’s guns had wrought their havoc—then the deck was bedlam. Roars of cannon, fired in broadsides, orders, oaths, and shrieks of dying wretches—stabs of fire as the cannon belched, glowing matches in the hands of powder-blackened men, messengers running here and there, officers standing by, strained, intent, and heedless of everything save the guns they commanded—there was a scene worthy of the pen of Dante.

H. M. S.DREADNAUGHTThe first all-big-gun ship, and the one that gave its name to present-day battleships, which are universally called dreadnaughts or super-dreadnaughts.

H. M. S.DREADNAUGHT

The first all-big-gun ship, and the one that gave its name to present-day battleships, which are universally called dreadnaughts or super-dreadnaughts.

And such a sight as a fleet of these ships presented as it grappled with a rival fleet perhaps equally strong. Two lines, each of a score or more of these awkward giants—first they manœuvre for position, each strung out in single file, each with sails set, each silent, each watchful, each anxious. Slowly they converge. Closer and closer they come, their ports open, the black muzzles of the cannon protruding. On the gun-decks men are waiting quietly, peering out, waiting for the command to fire. Above, on the quarter decks, groups of officers with their awkward field glasses, watching the enemy, watching the flagship. Aloft, in the masts, groups of sharpshooters with muskets ready, waiting for an opportunity to bring down the officers and men on the decks of the enemy’s ships.

Closer the ships sail and closer still, still noiseless save forthe gurgle of water at the bows and the sounds of the rigging. Then on the flagship a string of flags is run up and the attacking fleet changes its course sharply toward the enemy. Another string of flags and a crash of guns—the battle is on. Great clouds of smoke, more cannon roars—the enemy has answered. Closer still, and closer, until each ship is alongside one of the opposing fleet. Grappling irons are thrown over the rail, and the two fleets have become a long tangled row of duelling pairs, each locked tightly to its adversary, their sides grinding together, their rigging tangled. An hour, perhaps, of awful havoc. The line is broken, ships drifting here and there. Broken masts and spars clutter the decks. A ship catches fire and her magazine explodes, and as she sinks the victor cuts the lines that bind the two together and stands on to help a friend. An hour or two—maybe a little more—and the victory is won. History is made—perhaps Trafalgar has been fought and the whole world will feel the effect. Such were the duties of the line-of-battle ships.

But the frigates were built for a different work. They were the cruisers of a hundred years ago. They were the commerce destroyers, the raiders. A frigate was a ship which carried guns on the main deck and on one gun-deck below. Sometimes they sailed with other ships, but more often played their game alone. TheConstitutionwas one of these, and an important one. Not only did she win battles: also she affected the design of ships.

She was launched in 1797, and was, actually, an improvement on the frigates of the day. She was 204 feet long, 43.6 feet broad, and she carried thirty 24-pounders on her gun-deck, twenty-two 32-pound carronades on the quarter deck and forecastle deck, besides three “bow chasers” or long guns for use when pursuing a fleeing ship. Thus she had fifty-five guns (although later this was reduced) and consequentlyfar outclassed foreign frigates of the day. They carried from thirty-two to fifty guns, and these of lighter weight. While the main battery of theConstitutionconsisted of 24-pounders, foreign frigates used 18-pounders. A 24-pound shot is naturally more effective than an 18-pound shot from the same type of gun.

But not only was theConstitutionheavily armed. She was built of timbers of about the size of those used in line-of-battle ships, and so was much stronger than other frigates. As a matter of fact, she so outclassed the frigates of the British Navy that several line-of-battle ships were cut down until, technically, they became frigates, in order that they might meet her on more favourable terms.

A SUBMARINE

TheConstitutionwas a more graceful ship than theVictory, as frigates, as a class, were more graceful than all line-of-battle ships. They required more speed, and so had finer lines. Their sides were not so high, their bows less bluff,their sterns more finely designed. Line-of-battle ships were hardly more than floating wooden forts, carrying as many guns as possible. Frigates were fine ships, having all the qualities of fine ships, and carrying modified batteries.

So regularly did theConstitutiondefeat other frigates, and so simply was she able to refuse battle with superior forces, that the British Navy profited by her advantages and built similar ships. But the end of the era of sail was approaching, and before much could be done in the further perfection of ships of this kind, new warships propelled by steam had come into being, throwing into the discard both the line-of-battle ships and the frigates of an earlier day.

Following the War of 1812 there were no engagements of great importance in which warships played a part until the Crimean War, in 1855. During this period both steam and iron had been utilized by the designers of warships, and navies had made the first of the great steps that changed the fleets of the world from the wooden sailing ships of Trafalgar to the steel monsters of Jutland.

Typical warships of the most improved design just prior to the Crimean War were not greatly dissimilar from the line-of-battle ships and frigates of the War of 1812 except that they used steam as well as sails. They were larger, it is true. Such a ship was the BritishDuke of Wellington. She was 240 feet long, 60 feet wide, and displaced 5,830 tons. Her engines were of 2,000 horse power, and her speed under power was a trifle less than ten knots (nautical miles per hour). She carried 131 guns on four decks. This arrangement of guns was similar to that formerly used on line-of-battle ships, which sometimes carried guns on the upper deck as well as on the three gun-decks below. She was, then, one of the line-of-battle ships of her day, although this term was changed about this time to “ships-of-the-line.” Other somewhat smaller ships, propelled by steam and sails and withguns placed similarly to those of the earlier frigates, had come to be called “steam frigates,” or sometimes still were called frigates. TheHartford, Admiral Farragut’s flagship at the Battle of Mobile Bay in the American Civil War, was of this type.

A MODERN DESTROYERThis type of ship was originally designed to protect the larger ships from torpedo boats, but now that duty has been eliminated by the elimination of torpedo boats, and destroyers have many uses with the fleets to which they belong.

A MODERN DESTROYER

This type of ship was originally designed to protect the larger ships from torpedo boats, but now that duty has been eliminated by the elimination of torpedo boats, and destroyers have many uses with the fleets to which they belong.

At about this time, too, explosive shells were introduced, and as these were far more formidable than the solid shot of earlier times, naval men set about protecting ships in order to reduce the effectiveness of this new form of attack.

Iron had been introduced a few years earlier as a ship-building material, and so iron, naturally enough, was used as armour on some of the ships sent to Crimea, for wooden ships of the line had been badly battered by the guns of the Russians when a combined naval force of British and Frenchships had attacked a fort near Sebastopol. Both the British and the French instantly began to build armoured ships for use in the Crimean War. The British ships were not completed in time, but three of the French ships went very successfully through an engagement with a Russian fort in 1855.

These ships were, of course, awkward, heavy, and slow, but they did prove the value of armour, and so both the French and the British went to work placing armour on wooden ships and building ships of new design.

In 1859 an iron frigate called theWarrior, a ship 380 feet long, displacing 8,800 tons, was begun by the British. A wide strip of armour 4½ inches thick was placed on each side. This armour strip was 213 feet long and was wide enough to extend from a little below the water line to the upper deck. Both bow and stern were unprotected. This ship was, in appearance, merely an enlargement of the wooden steam frigates that had preceded her, but she made the surprising speed, under power, of 14 knots an hour.

While she was being built a new type of cannon was perfected which gave greater power with less weight and she was armed with these improved guns, each of which was of seven-inch bore and weighed between six and seven tons.

Then came the American Civil War and a still newer type of armoured ship was invented. This was the ship with a turret, and the first of these was theMonitor. She was designed by Captain Ericsson, the same man who perfected the screw propeller, and the turret, the most important feature of this ship, is the original one from which the highly perfected turrets of to-day have developed.

The idea of mounting guns in turrets had been suggested before, as a result of the experience gained in the Crimean War, but Ericsson, when he designed theMonitor, was the first to put the idea into practice.

A MODERN SUPER-DREADNAUGHTWhich carries the heaviest type of guns, and is protected by heavy armour. Its speed is less than that of cruisers.

A MODERN SUPER-DREADNAUGHT

Which carries the heaviest type of guns, and is protected by heavy armour. Its speed is less than that of cruisers.

TheMonitorwas a strange-appearing ship. The fact that she was said by the Confederates to be a “cheese box on a raft” gives some idea of her appearance. She was 170 feet long, 41½ feet wide, and displaced about 1,200 tons, but her appearance was unique. Her deck was but two feet above the water and from bow to stern she was as smooth as a paved street except for a tiny pilot house near the bow and a huge round “cheese box” amidships. This cheese box was the turret and in it were mounted two 11-inch Dahlgren guns, theMonitor’sonly battery. The turret was about twenty-two feet in diameter and the sides of it were of iron eight inches thick. This was built up of eight thicknesses of one-inch plates bolted together. The broad smooth deck was covered with three inches of iron and the low sideswith five inches. This strange vessel was completed just in time to be sent to Hampton Roads in order to protect the wooden ships of the Union Navy from the ferocious and effective onslaughts of theMerrimac, a Confederate ironclad that had just sunk theCumberlandand set fire to theCongress. This ship had been the wooden frigateMerrimacwhich had been partly burned when the Union forces had abandoned the Norfolk Navy Yard. The Confederates had raised her, repaired her, cut her sides down almost to the water line, and had built a huge deck house amidships. This deck house, in which the cannon were mounted, had sloping walls which were covered with railroad rails. Harking back to the time of Greece, they affixed a huge ram to her bow, and then sent her forth against the Union ships in Hampton Roads. Their shells ricochetted from her armoured sides like hail from a tin roof. All the cannon the helplessCumberlandcould bring to bear disturbed her not at all, and slowly bearing down upon her wooden adversary she buried her ram in theCumberland’shull. Slowly the old sailing ship filled and sank, her guns still firing and her shells still glancing harmlessly from theMerrimac’sarmour of rails. The Confederate ship then turned her attention to theCongress, shelled her and set her on fire, and then calmly returned to her base none the worse, save for a few dents in her armour.

But during the night that followed theMonitorappeared, having slowly made her way down the coast from New York. The next day theMerrimaccame out to finish her work of destruction, when theMonitor, a tiny ship beside her great opponent, steamed slowly toward the approaching ironclad. A duel memorable in naval annals followed—the first battle between ironclad ships.

As the two ships approached each other theMonitor’sturret slowly revolved. The black muzzles of the two guns came to bear on her great antagonist. A double blast fromthem, and theMerrimacreeled from the shock, but the turning turret had carried the gun muzzles on around, away from the fire of the Confederate ship. As the turret revolved the gun crew, with feverish haste, loaded again, and once more the muzzles faced theMerrimac. All this time the Confederate had been raining shells at her little opponent, but they glanced harmlessly from the deck or barely dented the iron walls of the turret. TheMerrimactried to ram, but theMonitorout-manœuvred her and the battle continued. A shell struck theMonitor’spilot house and the commander was temporarily blinded, but the fight continued. At last, however, theMerrimacwithdrew. The fight, perhaps, was a draw, but can more properly be called a victory for theMonitor—the first ship to mount a turret, for theMerrimacnever again faced a Union ship, and later in the war was sunkby her own men to keep her from falling into the hands of their enemies.

A BATTLE CRUISERA ship carrying the heaviest of guns but lacking the heavy armour of the dreadnaughts. Its speed is greatly superior to that of dreadnaughts.

A BATTLE CRUISER

A ship carrying the heaviest of guns but lacking the heavy armour of the dreadnaughts. Its speed is greatly superior to that of dreadnaughts.

Following this engagement many ships similar to both theMonitorand theMerrimacwere built to take part in the Civil War. And others of other designs were constructed. The war ended, however, with no further important steps having been made in the design of warships.

Following the Civil War the Navy of the United States fell into decay for twenty years, but European nations continued the building of ironclad and, later, steelclad warships. In these, many experiments were made with turrets and side armour but little of permanent value resulted.

Guns were perfected, it is true, and the old muzzle-loading smooth-bores of Civil War and earlier times were succeeded by breech-loading rifles. These new guns, too, became more and more powerful and more and more accurate. Still, however, the accuracy of gunfire was not greatly improved, although it improved slowly.

The newer ships gradually eliminated sails and came to depend exclusively on their engines, just as passenger ships did during this same period, and the engines increased in power and reliability until, in the early ’nineties, many of the world’s cruisers were capable of a speed of more than twenty knots an hour.

Turrets had become revolving armoured turntables carrying one or two guns, and these had been placed on an equally heavily armoured “barbette” or circular steel base through which shells and ammunition were hoisted into the turret. Side armour grew heavier and heavier, and a “protective deck,” somewhat above the water line, was built in. This deck was of comparatively thin steel armour, and as it approached the side of the ship it was bent down so that it was attached to the sides at or below the water line, thus placing over the all-important boilers, engine rooms, andmagazines the protection that they needed from the enemy’s shells. During this period, guns were such that an enemy’s projectile would probably strike the side of the ship, and this deck, therefore, did not have to be designed to prevent the entrance of shells striking it except at a small angle. Consequently, the light armour used was sufficient. Later, at the Battle of Jutland (in 1916) and elsewhere, these decks were easily penetrated by shells fired at such a distance that they fell at a very steep angle.

A SCOUT CRUISERThis ship is one of theOmahaclass, built after the World War for the U. S. Navy.

A SCOUT CRUISER

This ship is one of theOmahaclass, built after the World War for the U. S. Navy.

Shortly before the Spanish-American War, a new type of warship began to appear, and it created much interest because of its supposed ability to annihilate other types of ships. This new type was the torpedo boat. It was small and was very fast, for that day, being capable of twenty-one or twenty-two knots and sometimes a little more. It was a fragile affair, but it carried the newly perfected Whitehead torpedo. “Torpedoes” had been used during the Civil War,but in reality they were nothing but mines, set off by a trigger or by contact, and capable of use only when they could be set in the path of a ship, or by being fastened at the end of a long pole could be thrust against a ship, below the water line, by another craft. Some success attended their use during the Civil War, but they were not numerous or widely successful.

The Whitehead torpedo, however, was a new development. It consisted of three parts: first, the “war head,” or foremost section, filled with high explosive which was set off when its sharp nose came in contact with a solid object; second, a round steel compressed-air tank, which took up the midship section; and third, the section to which were attached propellers, vertical and horizontal rudders, and in which there was a powerful engine operated by the compressed air of the midship section. This torpedo could be plunged into the water from a “torpedo tube” and its engine would propel it for four or five hundred yards, while it was kept in a direct line and at an even depth beneath the surface by its automatic rudders.

A torpedo boat, then, small, fast, and capable of making a comparatively high speed, did seem to be a dangerous warship. But during the Spanish-American War two Spanish torpedo boats, theFurorand thePluton, were smothered by the fire of the American ships—notably theVixen, which was only a converted yacht—at the Battle of Santiago, and later another type of ship called the “torpedo-boat destroyer” was designed. This new type completely eliminated the torpedo boat.

The heavier warships had grown into weird collections of turrets. Turrets carried 12-inch guns, and 8-inch guns, and 6-inch guns, and all of these were sometimes placed on a single ship. Turrets were forward and aft and on both sides, sometimes as many as eight of them. But the 12-inch gunsoutranged the 8-inch guns, and the 8-inch guns outranged the 6-inch guns, and so the British, seeing the fallacy of these numerous guns of various sizes, decided to build a ship armed only with the heaviest type of naval guns in use and with small guns to withstand torpedo attacks. Thus theDreadnaughtcame to be designed. She was the first “all-big-gun” ship, and immediately she changed the design of all line-of-battle ships, or, as they had come to be called by this time, battleships. Incidentally, so great was the effect that theDreadnaughthad, that all the great battleships to-day are called “dreadnaughts,” or, now that they have increased so much in size, “super-dreadnaughts.”

AN AIRPLANE VIEW OF THE U. S. S.LANGLEYAn airplane carrier. In order to build the great flying deck the funnel had to be led to the port side, where it projects only slightly above the deck.

AN AIRPLANE VIEW OF THE U. S. S.LANGLEY

An airplane carrier. In order to build the great flying deck the funnel had to be led to the port side, where it projects only slightly above the deck.

TheDreadnaughtwas built in 1906. She is 490 feet long, 92 feet wide, and displaces 17,900 tons. From this will be seen the enormous increase in size that ships had gone throughsince the introduction of steel. She carried ten 12-inch guns, mounted in five turrets, and in addition to these, originally carried no other guns save twenty-four 12-pounder rapid-fire guns. She could steam at 21½ knots an hour, and the distance she could go without replenishing her supply of coal was 5,800 miles.

This ship, as I have suggested, revolutionized modern battleship design, and, since she first appeared, the leading naval powers have built ships of her type as their first line of defense. It is true that her secondary battery was found to be inadequate and that later dreadnaughts and super-dreadnaughts have increased the size of the guns in this minor battery, but they still retain the huge and powerful battery of big guns of a uniform size.

Dreadnaughts have enlarged their guns from 12-inch to 14-inch and at last to 16-inch, which, under the Disarmament Treaty signed at Washington in 1921, is the limit in size, and some of the newest ships have their guns mounted three in a turret instead of one or two, but the characteristic that made theDreadnaughta dreadnaught is still a characteristic of all present-day first-line battleships.

Other types have come into existence, but unfortunately I have no space in which to discuss them. Battle cruisers are fast ships of tremendous size—they are the largest of modern warships—which carry little armour but are armed with huge batteries of the heaviest guns and are capable of enormous speed. They can make from 28 to 35 knots an hour—a speed that can be equalled only by destroyers. There are submarines, those slinking creatures that infested the North Sea, the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean during the World War. The hours I have spent on duty in the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay, leaning on the bridge rail, scanning every wave and every bit of wreckage, helping to pick up occasionally the crew of a torpedoedsteamer, searching night and day for the submarines sent out from Kiel and Zeebrugge, have not made of submarines a type of warship for which I have any love. But I realize that, despite the aversion I grew to have for them, they are marvellous structures, capable of amazing feats, and capable, too, of better, or at least not such vicious, uses as those to which the Germans put them.

But the warships of to-day—they are of almost innumerable designs and sizes and uses. A modern fleet is no longer able to maintain itself with fighting ships alone. Supply ships, hospital ships, airplane carriers, colliers, gunboats, fleet submarines, ordinary submarines, destroyers, scout cruisers, battle cruisers, dreadnaughts, super-dreadnaughts—these are some of the types that only an encyclopædia of naval information could adequately describe.

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