Search found 2473 matches
- Fri Jun 09, 2023 8:54 am
- Forum: The Age of Sail (1571-1860)
- Topic: Uses of Capstan
- Replies: 21
- Views: 2902
Re: Uses of Capstan
Hi AThompson, It's great to see activity on the forum. And there are no daft questions. Much knowledge is not recorded because the author forgets the reader has not had the same experiences as them, and "everyday" things are not explained. :D Take a pulley block and secure a tail rope from...
- Mon Jun 05, 2023 12:49 pm
- Forum: The Age of Sail (1571-1860)
- Topic: HEIC Nemesis Armour?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 1073
Re: HEIC Nemesis Armour?
Hi AThompson, Conway's History of the Ship "Steam, Steel and Shellfire confirms what Marcelo has gleaned from D K Brown. Perhaps not surprisingly as Brown was one of the distinguished contributors. :cool: It says Nemesis' success might have been that besides only facing outmoded Chinese low vel...
- Thu Jun 01, 2023 1:14 pm
- Forum: Naval Technology
- Topic: Estimating torpedo energy and resistance
- Replies: 5
- Views: 7957
Re: Estimating torpedo energy and resistance
Hi All, Marcelo is 100% correct The drag/resistance actuating in the opposite direction will increase with speed, till the point that thrust equals resistance, a sort of horizontal free fall terminal speed. You can not go beyond that point if you do not increase thrust. Drag: Square Law Rules Imagin...
- Thu Jun 01, 2023 9:25 am
- Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
- Topic: Why built useless battleships?
- Replies: 61
- Views: 19686
Re: Why built useless battleships?
Hi OpanaPointer, Since Churchill re-used his turn of phrase from a speech of 1912 in his very popular books written after the First World War it seems likely to me Holger Herwig consciously or unconsciously quoted him when he wrote his own book in 1980. It is of course arguable that if Germany had q...
- Wed May 31, 2023 3:36 pm
- Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
- Topic: Why built useless battleships?
- Replies: 61
- Views: 19686
Re: Why built useless battleships?
Hi Opana and all, On this anniversary of Jutland we can consider the origin of the description of the High Seas Fleet as a "luxury" as adopted by Holger, but surely originating with none other than Winston S Churchill. In a speech in 1912, on becoming First Lord of the Admiralty: The purpo...
- Mon May 29, 2023 5:31 pm
- Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
- Topic: Prince of Wales and Repulse again under attack.........
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2124
Re: Prince of Wales and Repulse again under attack.........
Hi All, From AP Malaysia’s maritime agency said it has detained a Chinese-registered vessel on suspicion of looting two Second World War-era British shipwrecks in the South China Sea. The agency said it had found a cannon shell believed to be from the Second World War on board the bulk carrier ship....
- Fri May 12, 2023 9:12 am
- Forum: The Ironclad & Pre-dreadnought Era (1860-1905)
- Topic: Fire Control of Pre-Dreadnoughts
- Replies: 44
- Views: 6809
Re: Fire Control of Pre-Dreadnoughts
Hi Byron, I hope do not denigrate Pollen at all, like the other luminaries he was a highly motivated individual, who wanted the best for his country and was determined to push his case forward against what he saw as dangerously dull-minded conservative opposition. Such men undoubtedly deserve our ad...
- Tue May 09, 2023 12:05 pm
- Forum: The Ironclad & Pre-dreadnought Era (1860-1905)
- Topic: Fire Control of Pre-Dreadnoughts
- Replies: 44
- Views: 6809
Re: Fire Control of Pre-Dreadnoughts
Hi All, It is likely there was rangefinding in the Spanish-American War. Quintin Barry, writing in his book "Disputed Victory" says Soon after this, however, the Brooklyn suffered her only fatal casualty, when Chief Yeoman Ellis was killed while taking the range of the Viscaya . As two men...
- Thu May 04, 2023 6:17 pm
- Forum: The Ironclad & Pre-dreadnought Era (1860-1905)
- Topic: Fire Control of Pre-Dreadnoughts
- Replies: 44
- Views: 6809
Re: Fire Control of Pre-Dreadnoughts
Hi Marcelo, The book had an outrageous high price at the time of publishing You highlight a problem alluded to in another thread. Populist books, a description given to Guns at Sea elsewhere, get enough volume sales to keep the unit price down, but Brooks' book is unfortunately considered to be of s...
- Thu May 04, 2023 12:15 pm
- Forum: The Ironclad & Pre-dreadnought Era (1860-1905)
- Topic: Fire Control of Pre-Dreadnoughts
- Replies: 44
- Views: 6809
Re: Fire Control of Pre-Dreadnoughts
Hi Paul, Byron provided the detail on those slow-firers. With such lengthy loading times, and so few guns, it was essential to get close enough to guarantee a hit, hence the short ranges anticipated. I imagine such battles would be a bit like duelling at ten paces, don't shoot till you see the white...
- Wed May 03, 2023 1:49 pm
- Forum: The Ironclad & Pre-dreadnought Era (1860-1905)
- Topic: Fire Control of Pre-Dreadnoughts
- Replies: 44
- Views: 6809
Re: Fire Control of Pre-Dreadnoughts
Hello Paul, In fact as Marcelo's diagram makes clear the loading gear is under a deck in this design. However in the so called barbette ships the breech loading gun crews were totally exposed during loading. These ships expected to fight at close range 1-2000 yds max and incoming shells would have f...
- Sat Apr 29, 2023 8:55 am
- Forum: The Age of Sail (1571-1860)
- Topic: Binnacle Location
- Replies: 13
- Views: 2330
Re: Binnacle Location
Hi All, Based on the shape, I would guess this represents a pump rather than a binnacle. Two handles would be inserted from the sides and the pumped water would flood out over the deck and into the scuppers. The helmsman must be able to see the compass if he is going steer a course. All the best wad...
- Wed Apr 26, 2023 6:40 pm
- Forum: The Age of Sail (1571-1860)
- Topic: Spanish artillery in the age of sail
- Replies: 37
- Views: 3810
Re: Spanish artillery in the age of sail
Hi OpanaPointer, A Sprinkle of Breadcrumbs....... A media sacra cannon from El Gran Grifón sunk off Fair Isle is on display in the Shetlands museum on a "recreated" 2 wheel carriage. www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2010/07/30/cannon-from-armada-ship-wrecked-off-fair-isle-to-go-on-show-in-museum In...
- Wed Apr 26, 2023 9:06 am
- Forum: The Ironclad & Pre-dreadnought Era (1860-1905)
- Topic: Fire Control of Pre-Dreadnoughts
- Replies: 44
- Views: 6809
Re: Fire Control of Pre-Dreadnoughts
Hello Marcelo, Padfield's Guns at Sea has mathematician Niccolo Tartaglia claiming to have measured range at sea using the known height of the ship's mast and a an angle from the "maine top" measured with a Gunner's Quadrant. He lived from 1500 to 1557 and applied mathematics to ballistics...
- Tue Apr 25, 2023 12:42 pm
- Forum: The Age of Sail (1571-1860)
- Topic: Spanish artillery in the age of sail
- Replies: 37
- Views: 3810
Re: Spanish artillery in the age of sail
Hi All, Naval Guns by Hans Mehl has photo and drawing of a Saker 6 pdr bronze naval gun of 1551 cast by Remigy de Halut in Flanders for the Spanish Crown, which is 1.8 metres (5ft 10in) from muzzle to just before trunnions, and 3.8 metres (12ft 5in) overall. The weapon was taken from a privateer off...