Warship development history?

[Shtudmuffin]

Could someone explain to me how warships developed between the advent of the first ironclad in 1849 to the launching of HMS Dreadnought in 1905?

To supplement the main question, I have some that fit under its topic:

-What kind of inventions allowed for breech-loading guns to be equipped on ships?

-When did turrets start to show up, and when did they become commonplace?

-When did the ram appear (and fade away) as a design element for ironclads?

-What are central battery ironclads?

-What were some important developments in naval armaments, and when did they come about?

-How did the development of armor play out?

-When did wooden ships of any kind become obsolete?

-What were some pivotal developments in warship propulsion? How did they come about?

-How did submarines develop around this time? When did they become viable warships?

-When were torpedo boats first developed? What was the first torpedo boat class, and when was it built?

-When did destroyers first appear? When did they start to become commonplace? Other than protection of larger warships from submarines and torpedo boats, what was/is their role?


I'll probably think of many more questions later on, so be warned.

[wietze]

i would say start at wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warship

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles...readnought_era

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_battery_ship

propulsion : multiple expansion systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_engine
Steam Turbines :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_turbine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbinia

[Shtudmuffin]

Originally Posted by wietze

i would say start at wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warship

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles...readnought_era

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_battery_ship

propulsion : multiple expansion systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_engine
Steam Turbines :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_turbine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbinia

I was hoping that I could have someone summarize what Wikipedia was trying to say. Wikipedia can be difficult for me to understand occasionally.

[BigWillyG]

Ram's became big from the late 1860s on especially after the Austrian ironclad Erzherzog Ferdinand Max rammed and sank the Italian Re d'Italia at Lissa in 1866. The example from Lissa and the lack of gun power compared to armor in the 1860s-70s made rams very popular up until WWI.

[Simreeve]

Originally Posted by BigWillyG

Ram's became big from the late 1860s on especially after the Austrian ironclad Erzherzog Ferdinand Max rammed and sank the Italian Re d'Italia at Lissa in 1866. The example from Lissa and the lack of gun power compared to armor in the 1860s-70s made rams very popular up until WWI.

And remember HMS Thunder Child!

[David S Poepoe]

Originally Posted by Shtudmuffin

I was hoping that I could have someone summarize what Wikipedia was trying to say. Wikipedia can be difficult for me to understand occasionally.

You are asking relatively complex questions and many are interrelated. There is an excellent book about the development of the Victorian Navy and basically touches on every question you posted. I hesitate to do the research for others.

[Grey Wolf]

Originally Posted by BigWillyG

Ram's became big from the late 1860s on especially after the Austrian ironclad Erzherzog Ferdinand Max rammed and sank the Italian Re d'Italia at Lissa in 1866. The example from Lissa and the lack of gun power compared to armor in the 1860s-70s made rams very popular up until WWI.

The ram still looked like a viable weapon when HMS Camperdown accidentally rammed and sank HMS Victoria!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Camperdown_(1885)

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

[David S Poepoe]

Originally Posted by Grey Wolf

The ram still looked like a viable weapon when HMS Camperdown accidentally rammed and sank HMS Victoria!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Camperdown_(1885)

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

The Prussians suffered a similar incident in the English Channel.


I would point out that the turret was developed about the same time in both Britain and the United States and that it was around for a couple decades but later fell out of favour.

What we today call turrets, actually developed out of the barbette system. Guns mounted in a barbette initially had no or little protection. Armoured shields were mounted which gradually became more complex and the armour thicker.

[Delta Force]

Originally Posted by Shtudmuffin

-What kind of inventions allowed for breech-loading guns to be equipped on ships?

Advances in metallurgy and sealing were required. The Armstrong guns of the 1860s solved the metallurgy problem (by being built up designs) and were strong enough to withstand firing, but they did not have the sealing systems that would arrive with French and German pieces of the 1870s. The de Bange system solved many of those sealing problems and is still used today, the Welin breech was another design and is also commonly used today.

-When did turrets start to show up, and when did they become commonplace?

Monitor had a turret because it allowed it to fire its guns regardless of where it was going. It is the first example of a ship with turrets I know of. I think the later designs evolved from barbette designs mounted on ships as the others have stated.

-When did the ram appear (and fade away) as a design element for ironclads?

It become popular in the 1860s after the Battle of Lissa, although it had been used earlier in the American Civil War. One of the reasons the CSS Virginia was equipped with a ram is because even in 1862 it was thought that armor had outpaced gun technology. Rams were still equipped on ships well into the Dreadnought era, the only ship Dreadnought ever sunk (or even attacked) was a German U-boat that it destroyed with its bow ram.

-What are central battery ironclads?

Ships that have their armament mounted broadside in a central armored box.

-What were some important developments in naval armaments, and when did they come about?

For decades muzzle loading rifles were the standard armament of warships, armed with explosive shells (being an era of wooden ships penetration wasn't as important). Later on came breechloaders and common shell, which still caused damage by explosive effects although the fragmentation of common shell was designed to continue going the same direction the shell was going before it exploded (as opposed to out).

-How did the development of armor play out?

There was iron armor, steel armor, compound armor (for a short stint in the 1870s it was found to be better to combine steel faced armor with iron backing than to just use steel), Harvey armor, Krupp armor, and Krupp cemented armor.

-When did wooden ships of any kind become obsolete?

They were obsolete once explosive shells arrived, although I guess you could say they were obsolete once iron-cladding was developed to resist the effects of explosive shells.

-What were some pivotal developments in warship propulsion? How did they come about?

The steam engine, various expansion engines (steam engines making more use of the steam through additional expansion stages), and the turbine. Once the turbine was developed the next step was to go from direct drive to geared drive (because turbines spun so fast relative to steam engines that they lost a lot of power "flailing" around).

-How did submarines develop around this time? When did they become viable warships?

Their development was accelerated by World War I. Even a few years before the war submarines were next to useless for combat purposes.

-When were torpedo boats first developed? What was the first torpedo boat class, and when was it built?

Shortly after Whitehead invented the torpedo they started coming out. The first torpedo boat to use Whitehead torpedoes was HMS Lightning. Before that various other warships did use torpedoes, but they were spar torpedoes (stuck on a giant stick and exploding on contact, like the one Hunley was armed with).

-When did destroyers first appear? When did they start to become commonplace? Other than protection of larger warships from submarines and torpedo boats, what was/is their role?

They first showed up as protection against torpedo boats and were more heavily armed with guns than the torpedo boats. The Japanese torpedo boat Kotaka was designed as a torpedo boat but is believed by experts to represent the prototype for what would become the torpedo boat destroyer. It is also representative of another role of torpedo boat destroyers, which was to carry out torpedo runs of their own.