Mariners-L Archives

From: "tony dalton" <>
Subject: [Mar] HMS HERCULES
Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2002 07:36:56 +0000

A little more on the HERCULES, for Lesley:
......................

From 'The Illustrated London News', 1868

The ironclad frigate Hercules made a trial trip, at Portsmouth, yesterday
week, She is the heaviest plated ship in the Navy, her armour being 9 in.
thick at the waterline. She also carries the heaviest armament of any ship
in the service, having eight guns of 18 tons each in a central battery. Her
engines are the most powerful ever constructed and were worked-up to 8000
horsepower. Her mean speed was 14 knots and she made two runs with the tide
at the extraordinary rate of 16 knots, or nearly nineteen miles an hour,
the greatest speed ever attained by a vessel so heavily armoured. The trial
proved the excellence and working order of the ships magnificent machinery,
the steadiness of the ship herself when being driven at the greatest power
of the engines, and the readiness with which the helm was answered under
every condition of position and speed. The Hercules is 325 ft. long and 59
ft. broad. She carries a total weight of armour of 1480 tons, the
thicknesses being 2.8 in. and 6 in.; her armament weighs about 540 tons and
she will carry 600 tons of coal.
.................

From The Illustrated London News, February 15th, 1868

The Hercules, 12 guns, armour-plated ship, 1200 horsepower, was, on Monday
afternoon, February 10th, successfully floated at Chatham. The Hercules is
one of the largest, if not the largest, of war vessels afloat and her
immense size may be imagined when it is known that there are about 1500
tonnes of iron in armour plates used in her construction. The plates used to
make this vessel shot proof vary in thickness. From 5 feet below the
waterline to 9 feet above it there are 9-inch plates affixed; for eight
tiers above this, there are plates of 8 inches; above these, 6 inches; and
on the athwartship bulkheads, 5 inches. Behind these plates there is a teak
backing 1 foot in thickness. The Hercules is from designs by Mr. E.J. Reed,
Chief Constructor of the Navy, and was commenced on June 21st, 1866, so that
a little more than eighteen months have been taken up in building her. The
dimensions of the Hercules are: Extreme length, 338 feet 6 inches; extreme
breadth, 59 feet; depth in hold, 21 feet; and her burden in tonnes is 5226.
......................

From 'The Illustrated London News', February 22nd, 1868

The new iron-clad ship Hercules, built from the designs of Mr E. J. Reed,
Chief Constructor of the Navy, was floated out of dock at Chatham, on Monday
week, February 10th, in the presence of the Right Hon Mr. Corry, First Lord
of the Admiralty; the Naval Lords; the Secretary, Lord Henry Lennox; the
Duke of Sutherland, Mr. James Stansfeld, M.P., and a numerous party of
ladies and gentlemen. Miss Corry had first performed the ceremony of
christening the ship. The Hercules is an entirely iron-built, armour-clad
frigate, 325 feet long between the perpendiculars, 59 feet in extreme
breadth and, when fully equipped for sea, will have a mean draft of water of
24 feet 6 inches. Her tonnage is 5226 tonnes b.o.m. The first plate of her
keel was laid on June 21st, 1866, and 60 tonnes of iron per week have been
worked into the ship. Her ram bow does not protrude proportionately so far
as in former examples; it is a solid forging, made at the yard, upwards of 5
tonnes in weight. The entire bow, too, is more vertical and less receding
than the previous instances of this style. The armour plates, of 8-inches
and 9-inches thickness, were rolled by Sir John Brown and Co.; and the
6-inch plates by Messrs. Cammell, at Sheffield. The total weight of armour
plating on the sides of the ship is 1145 tonnes, and that of the bolts,
nuts, and washers used in securing them 73 tonnes - 1218 tonnes in all. To
this must be added 91 tonnes of armour plates in connection with the
bulkheads, and upwards of 4 tonnes of bolts etc., in securing them. The
total weight of iron and metal taken at the scales worked into the ship is
4252 tonnes, and of wood 810 tonnes, giving 5062 tonnes as the weight of the
material used. In descending series we have the strakes of armour plating
thus: Commencing at the line of the upper deck (the bulwarks being of wood)
first two strakes of plates 6-inches thick; next, a strake of 8-inch armour,
covering the lower portion of the main deck or central box-battery; two
strakes of 6-inch plates follow; and then comes a belt of 9-inch armour
along (above and below) the load line. Under this is another strake of 6-
inch plates, resting on the recess of the double skin of the hull proper.
The belt of 9-inch plates is backed by 10 inches of teak, inside of which
comes 1 inch iron skin, supported by vertical frames 10 inches deep and 2
feet apart, and stiffened by similar frames placed longitudinally outside
the 1 inch skin, and intermediate between the teak planks is the backing.
In addition to this, from the lower deck down, the target is strengthened by
filling-in the wing passages with from 18 inches to 20 inches of teak, and
backing it with a -inch iron skin, supported by 7-inch frames placed
vertically at intervals of 2 feet. The rest of the armour is backed by 10
inches or 12 inches of teak secured to a 1 inch iron skin, with a similar
arrangement of vertical and longitudinal frames. The armour plating is
thinner towards the bow and stern of the ship. The engines, by Messrs. Penn,
of Greenwich, are of 1200 horsepower nominal, but will work up to between
7000 and 8000, indicated. The estimated speed of the Hercules, with full
power, is about 14 knots. In addition to being thus highly-powered as a
steamer, she will be fully equipped as a seagoing cruiser, and from her
great spread of canvas will doubtless be very efficient under sail alone.
Superior manoeuvring will be effected by an improvement made in the balanced
rudder. The armament will consist of fourteen guns. Eight of these are of
eighteen tonnes (400-pounders), and are carried in the strongly-protected
battery on the main deck. The hull is pierced there for four guns a side on
the broadside, the two foremost and the two hindmost training through
embraces in the diagonal ends of the central box-battery, which in form is a
long octagon; their fire is through large triangular recesses indented into
the iron-clad sides of the ship, the range extending to a line of fifteen
degrees with the keel. The shifting of these four guns from the broadside to
the diagonal walls ahead and astern is effected by Captain Scott's system of
turn tables and "racers", or double straps of iron pivoting on a pin, to
keep the muzzles of the guns fixed. Two 12-ton guns (250-pounders) are
placed in protected batteries on the main deck - one at the bow and one at
the stern, each training through three portholes - the lines of fire being
directly in line with the keel, and divergent from the port and starboard
sides. The remainder are 6-ton guns (110-pounders) and these are carried on
the upper deck itself. The guns of the Hercules may thus be directed to
almost any point in the circle around her. Whatever may be her sea-going
qualities, she is probably, as a fighting ship, the most formidable yet
constructed.
....................

From 'The Illustrated London News', November 21st, 1868

Frigate, designed by E.J. Reed, Chief Constructor of the Navy, and built at
Chatham Dockyard. The naming ceremony was performed by the daughter of the
Hon. Mr Corry, First Lord of the Admiralty. Entirely iron-built, her
dimensions are: Length, 337. Beam, 70 6. Displacements, 5,234 tons.
Draught, 22 10 forward and 26 10 aft. Engines, by Penn & Co., Greenwich,
1,200 nominal HP, 7,200 IHP, giving 14 knots at full speed. In addition, she
carries a great spread of canvas. Armament of 14 guns consisting of 8 x 18
ton guns, 4 on each broadside, carried in a strongly-protected battery on
the main deck plus 4 x guns on each broadside. The two foremost and two
hindmost broadside guns are trained through embrasures in the diagonal ends
of the central box-battery, firing through an angle of 15-degrees with the
keel. The shifting of the guns from the broadside to the diagonal walls
ahead and astern is effected by Captain Scotts system of turn-tables which
shunts the guns from one port to another much in the same way a locomotive
is shunted from one line to another.
....................

Tony

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• [Mar] HMS HERCULES by "tony dalton" <>