alternatehistory.com

Observations on the qualities of an iron battleship. (Excerpts.)


...it seems to me that, while in the old sailing ships the qualities of seamanship were paramount, this is so much less the case in the steam ship that a whole new assessment is made; and that, further, a number of new qualities have arisen which demand attention all their own.
Those are: the quality of the ship as a fighting platform for men; the ability of the ship to respond to orders; the great guns carried; the protection the ship affords the crew; the physical capabilities of the ship; the reliability of the ship; the extent to which the ship may operate under adverse conditions of weather; the capability of the ship to resist damage from any source.
Of these, the most important can be said to be the ability to respond to orders, for the best floating battery is an easy target for a ship with the facility of wind and wave behind her; next is the ability to resist damage, for a ship shot apart is a ship no longer; after that, it is the capacity of the ship to harm another.
In contest between two like ships, the one being more excellent in all properties except her ability to absorb damage, then the lesser ship with the greater armour may be able to prevail...
...in the battle that took place in New York Harbour in the late American War, the WARRIOR and the MONITOR battled one another; of these two ships, the WARRIOR was unquestionably superior in all aspects for her resilience and ease of command, such that even in a confined space which hampered her ability to fight effectively she came out the superior. If instead the DEFENCE had been engaged in like battle, then despite the far inferior qualities of DEFENCE to WARRIOR in so many ways the DEFENCE would still have come out the victor, for her greater facility with her great guns and to resist the shot of same...
...all the qualities of a ship are relative, not absolute, and the fast ship of yesterday may be the laggard of tomorrow. Nevertheless, it should be immediately clear that a ship with superior armour and weaponry retains her ability to fight longer compared to her slighter sister with a greater speed, while a fast vessel with weak guns and armour shall quickly become a vessel that may as well have no guns or armour at all...




-Gunnery Lt. Fisher, written in 1863 during his time in the Warrior.

(Yes, it's that Fisher. Jackie Fisher was already an incisive-minded fellow even in the 1860s.)