French Gunboats

Thinking of adding some maritime firepower to my Colonial French force with a gunboat, which would add some serious ability to dominate trade on the canals of Mars.

Wanting to use historical designs where possible, I came across the Revolver class gunboat:

Revolver gunboat in Tonkin

Hull schematic (no cockpit) - the real version show greater cutdown at the bow

Typical of the period, and also the experimental nature of smaller craft, armament varied but was broadly one large cannon up front and a few smaller weapons for close in defence. 

Earlier designs had larger calibre forward guns, but these were later reduced to a 140mm gun, with two 37mm Hothkiss revolver guns fore and aft on the superstructure.

Conveniently, this model is available from Gringo 40s and looks great:

I also quite like this turreted ironclad gunboat style: The Acheron Class

Four of the class were built between 1882 and 1890, and they continued to serve until 1912

Acheron was armed with a single 274 mm gun (!) in a conical turret as the primary armament, plus two 100 mm, two 47 mm and twenty 37 mm guns. Probably more a harbour defence cruiser than a gunboat, but definitions of the era were rather flexible.

Very cool, but a bit too high end for Mars though? Would make a nice option for a scratch build. 

Slightly different track but equally cool is the Cerbère class Ironclad Rams - 4 of which were built in the 1870s

In the limited confines of Martian canal networks with limited manoeuvre room, her ability to take out enemy ships by ramming (and thus preserving valuable main battery ammunition) would be valuable.

French ironclad ram ships Cerbère and Bélier, 1866-90

Deliberations continue. The Italians probably need a gunboat for Venus too...

HMVS Cerberus

Updated online history section at the Royal Australian Navy website here:
http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-cerberus-hmvs

The passing of the Colonial Naval Defence Act, 1865 empowered the Australian colonies to officially acquire warships and to raise and maintain seamen to serve in such vessels.

Of all the Australian colonies, Victoria put the most effort into her naval defences and in 1866 its colonial government applied to the British Government for assistance in establishing a naval force under the provisions of the 1865 Act. In reply to the request the Imperial Government agreed to assist with a grant of £100,000 towards the cost of a monitor turret ship and to donate, as a training ship, the old wooden man-o-war Nelson. The maintenance and manning of the new turret ship would be the responsibility of the Victorian Government, with assistance from the Royal Navy; however, she was to be placed at the disposal of the Commanding Officer of the Royal Navy’s Australia Station in the event of a war.

A general arrangement plan showing the layout of the monitor and her armament.

The ship’s design was comparatively new, the first of its type having emerged just five years earlier during the American Civil War in the form of USS Monitor, and was especially suited to the conditions likely to be encountered in Port Phillip Bay. She would be clad in iron armour up to eight inches thick and, by flooding her ballast tanks with up to 500 tons of water; the ship could lower herself three feet into the water so that only the breastwork and turrets remained on the surface. The design also featured a broad flat bottom, which did nothing to increase her sea-keeping capabilities.

Construction commenced on 1 September 1867 at the Palmer Shipbuilding & Iron Company shipyards at Jarrow-on-Tyne near Newcastle, England, and was completed two years later. The ship commissioned as Her Majesty’s Victorian Ship (HMVS) Cerberus, named after the three-headed hound in Greek and Roman mythology which guarded the gates to the Underworld.

Cerberus was steam powered and although not designed to have masts or sails, these were temporarily fitted to help conserve her coal supply on her maiden voyage to Australia. In her normal configuration, without the mass of rigging required for sails, her guns enjoyed a wide, unhampered firing arc.

Cerberus sailed from Chatham on 29 October 1870 under the Red Ensign and was manned by a crew of twenty-five merchant seamen under the command of Lieutenant William Henry Panter, RN. Panter had been serving in Australia aboard HMVS Nelson and had arrived in his native England in June to take command of the new monitor.

Captain WH Panter, RN the first commanding officer of HMVS Cerberus (State Library of Victoria Collection).

At the beginning of her long delivery voyage to Australia, Cerberus encountered heavy weather as she departed Chatham and was forced to seek shelter at Spithead, between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, before continuing on to Plymouth, where most of the crew deserted. With a new crew of sixty-five embarked, the voyage resumed on 7 November. She encountered more heavy weather in the Bay of Biscay but made Gibraltar safely where still more of her crew deserted.  Between Gibraltar and Malta Cerberus encountered more favourable weather, and then endured searing heat as she steamed through the Red Sea. On 3 January 1871, the engineer recorded temperatures of 53ºC in the engine room and 61ºC in the stokehold.

After stopping at Aden for coal she continued on to Ceylon and Batavia before encountering cyclonic weather and strong headwinds. She coaled again at Fremantle during the final leg of the voyage where:

...the vessel created a great sensation, and every possible civility was offered by the Government. Governor Weld himself came on board and inspected the ship.

A stay of eight days in King George’s Sound, Albany, was spent taking on additional coal, cleaning and painting in preparation for the passage across the Great Australian Bight and her ultimate arrival at Melbourne.

On Sunday 9 April 1871, having spent 123 days en route, Cerberus arrived in Port Philip Bay. The Melbourne Age recorded:

…the circumstances of her voyage of five months and nine days have been watched with the deepest interest on both sides of the world. Captain Panter expected that it would be the end of April before the ardently hoped-for moment would come when he would drop his ‘mud hook’ off Williamstown; but his skill, together with comparatively favourable weather, has thus materially shortened the voyage.

She was first sighted off Cape Northumberland on Good Friday, but the telegraph offices were closed and it was not till Saturday that the public heard of a ‘turreted ship’ being seen off our coast. Later in that afternoon came the welcome news that the Cerberus had signalled the Cape Otway lighthouse, and yesterday morning she entered the Heads and steamed to her anchorage, which was the berth lately vacated by HM Corvette Blanche.

Cerberus following her arrival in Port Phillip Bay. (State Library of Victoria Collection):

As she came up she excited the greatest possible interest. As might be expected, she was not regarded as a handsome ship by any means. She appeared, as in great measure she is, a huge, long, square box, cut down straight at both ends, and surmounted by stunted masts, the tops of her turrets and her funnel. This is not the shape she will be when she is stripped of her surroundings. Then she will be a monitor, whose deck line will be 3 feet above the water, save in the centre, where the outline is broken by a breastwork of immense strength, above which are two cupolas and a pilot house, covered with the strongest armour plate. But now, this has been built over with iron bulwarks and a temporary upper deck to enable her to stand the voyage, and her outline is consequently of the ugliest.

The bay seemed all-alive as she entered Hobson’s Bay, and she was the centre of observation. The Russian man-of-war the Haydamack dipped ensign to her and Captain Koltovsky hurried on board Cerberus to pay his compliments to her commander. The boys of HMVS Nelson crowded into the rigging of their ship, and made the air ring again with peals of boyish cheers; and nearly every vessel in the bay hastened to pay the compliment of dipping colours.

Precisely at 1 o’clock the long-wished for moment arrived, and Captain Panter dropped his ‘mud hook’, and the event was immediately celebrated with the frothing of champagne by him and the few friends already onboard, amongst whom was Captain Payne, the chief harbour-master, who had boarded the Cerberus long before.

In the meantime a great multitude of boats, crowded with passengers, had put off from shore in hope of their being allowed on board. In this respect, Captain Panter did not think it right to disappoint the curious public, although the ship was not fit to be seen. He gave the required leave, and then started off to pay his respects to the Governor. During the whole of the afternoon the crowd of visitors increased greatly, and several thousands of visitors must have come on board and endeavoured to understand her construction and the working of the turrets.

Soon after her arrival, Cerberus was docked in the Alfred Graving Dock where her ocean-passage configuration was removed and her conversion to a monitor completed.

Cerberus in the Alfred Graving Dock. (State Library of Victoria)

The arrival of Cerberus in the Victorian colony saw it briefly possess the most powerful warship on the Australasian station and naturally enough the Victorians were keen to show off their new acquisition. With her merchant crew discharged and with a new crew of naval reservists embarked she began her first trials on Port Phillip Bay on 25 August 1871. It was soon discovered that Cerberus’ guns were too powerful to be fired close to shore following a raft of public protests concerning general damage suffered to windows from the percussive effects of her main armament.

Left: Sailors pose on the forward superstructure of Cerberus. Right: Officers gathered on the quarterdeck of Cerberus.

HMVS Cerberus berthed at Williamstown during the late 1800s.

During the 1870s, regular exercises were held with other Victorian naval ships, including the screw battleship, HMVS Nelson, torpedo boats, and the steam sloop Victoria. For more than 50 years, Cerberus was a familiar sight at Williamstown and in Port Phillip Bay where she spent her entire commission.

Cerberus ratings undertaking musket drill on Port Phillip Bay.

On 5 March 1881, Cerberus suffered her only casualties when a mine exploded in the water off Queenscliff during exercises, killing the ship’s gunner and five seamen.

(Courtesy State Library of Victoria)

Left: Cerberus Engineer Lieutenant W A Forsyth, circa 1899. Right: Signalman Andrew Currer of Richmond, Victoria posing with one of the ship"s petty officers, circa 1900.

Following Federation in 1901, the individual colonial navies were combined under one administration and became the Commonwealth Naval Forces, though the former colonial navies and their ships, including Cerberus, remained in their local ports. On 1 July 1911, the Commonwealth Naval Forces was formally granted the title Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the Navy’s commissioned ships henceforth carried the prefix ‘HMAS’.

Throughout her commission Cerberus was confined to the waters of Port Phillip Bay.

A fine profile of Cerberus in her heyday.

At the outbreak of war in August 1914, HMAS Cerberus assumed the role of Port Guard Ship for the Port of Melbourne acting as a base for the naval dock guards and small craft patrolling the harbour.  She became a store for ammunition and explosives in the later stages of the war.

In 1921, Cerberus was moved from Williamstown to Geelong where, for the next two years, she acted as a submarine depot ship for the RAN’s flotilla of six J-class submarines. On 1 April 1921, her name was changed to HMAS Platypus (II).

In April 1924 she was sold as scrap to the Melbourne Salvage Co Pty Ltd, for the sum of £409, and she was towed back to Williamstown where she was stripped of all her valuable metals and useful fittings.

Cerberus being dismantled at Williamstown prior to be scuttled as a breakwater at Black Rock.

In 1926, the hull was purchased by the Sandringham Municipal Council, filled with concrete and, on 2 September of that year, was towed across Port Phillip Bay to be sunk at Black Rock, where she remains as a breakwater.

SUNK AT BLACKROCK. BREAKWATER FOR SMALL CRAFT.

The Argus September 3 1926

Yesterday morning the hulk of the old iron-clad Cerberus was towed from her berth at the Williamstown pier, where everything of value had been removed from her, and sunk off the Black Rock jetty to form a breakwater for the yachts and fishing boats. Although the ultimate fate of the Cerberus was decided some time ago, when the Black Rock Yacht Club purchased it for £150 and resold it for the same amount to the muncipal council under agreement that it should be used as a breakwater. the date of the final move was indefinite. This was because the vice-president of the Marine Board (Mr George Kermode), under whose direction the vessel was sunk, did not wish to carry out the somewhat difficult task until the opportunity afforded by the perfect weather conditions presented itself. For this reason the sight of the strange flotilla that appeared off Half Moon Bay shortly after 9 o"clock took residents somewhat by surprise. The word, however, was passed around swiftly, and soon the cliffs were thronged by interested spectators, who saw approaching the grey, squat hull, towed by the tugs Agnes and Minah, and preceded by the Plover and motor-boat to mark the mooring. By 10 o"clock what was left of the Cerberus had been towed and coaxed by the tugs to within 400 yards off the jetty, where her bow was made fast to the existing breakwater, and the stern was slowly swung into position and secured to a temporary mooring. The operation had been timed for high water, when there is a depth of 15ft on the bank selected for the breakwater, and it was estimated that the Cerberus was drawing nearly 14ft. Immediately the hull was made fast three seacocks were opened, and the flooding of the vessel began. Dingys put off from the jetty, and the harbour master"s motor-boat took off a large crowd of small boys who swarmed over the decks and down below to watch the rising water. The Cerberus sank almost imperceptibly, going down slightly by the stern. There was a large amount of scrap iron and odds and ends of useless gear, and visitors took away weighty bolts and nuts as souvenirs, after peeping into the turrets to inspect the heavy rusting guns.

The once proud Cerberus resting on the seabed at Black Rock. (http://foodinfocusblog.com/Food_in_Focus/Blog/Entries/2012/1/27_Melbourn...)

The name Cerberus is perpetuated in the RAN’s premier training establishment, HMAS Cerberus, situated at Westernport, Victoria. The present Cerberus has in its museum several heritage items from Cerberus (I) including the binnacle, ship"s bell, helm and searchlight.

The bell, binnacle and ship"s helm from Cerberus, now on display in the HMAS Cerberus Museum, Westernport, Victoria.

Victorian naval ratings onboard Cerberus, circa 1895.

Colonial Defences of Sydney

I have recently moved back to Sydney after around 10 years of living far and wide elsewhere.  I have given myself a 'bucket list' plan to visit the colonial era defences and fortifications.   Of course, I have a hidden alt-history and VSF agenda in the background as well :-)

9 inch gun, South Head Battery, 1872

I'll present my findings here of course and as a prelude thought I would provide some overview of what was constructed in the early colonial days, during the 'Russian Scares' and post Federation.  I had decided that for the time being, I am going to stick with defences constructed in the colonial period (pre 1901) only.


The colony of New South Wales was established in 1788 in Port Jackson (better known now as Sydney Harbour).  A remote spot on the far side of the world from the British Isles, it was a long way from the Royal Navy's bases and help.  Over the next century layers of defences were built and upgraded to included new technologies including rifled guns, breach loaders, mines, torpedoes and anti-submarine booms.

Some of the fortifications around Sydney's inner and outer harbour.

This summary explains it well - from: http://www.visitsydneyaustralia.com.au/harbour-forts.html

The arrival of a French expedition to Botany Bay almost simultaneous to the arrival of the first fleet in January 1788 was a timely reminder that the colony of New South Wales, being the most isolated outpost of the British Empire, was always going to be vulnerable to any military action which might be taken against it. In a world where the countries of Europe were jostling for superiority and control of world trade, Britain had no friends as such, least of all the French with whom the relation was at best unfriendly. Even as the colony was settling in at Sydney Cove, Gov. Phillip was formulating a plan which included fortifications around the entrance to Sydney Cove and the establishment of a system of lookouts near the entrance to Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour). His actions were hardly surprising since he was a military man and the settlement on Sydney Cove was little more than a military outpost which employed convicts to do the dirty work. None of Phillip's original fortifications remain - the oldest fort is at Bradleys Head, which was completed in 1801. This battery was commissioned by Governor King during the Napoleonic Wars in 1800. This remarkable structure was hewn by convicts from the local sandstone and is a reminder of how fearful the fledgling colony was of invasion particularly from France.

On 29th November 1839, the unheralded arrival of a squadron of US Navy ships caused a furor. They entered the harbour under cover of darkness and no one knew of their arrival until morning, when the population rose to see them at anchor in the harbour. Fear of the repercussions had the new arrivals been unfriendly was enough to push the military authorities into re-assessing Sydney's defence strategies immediately. Their review resulted in Governor Gipps commencing work on what would become Fort Denison without waiting for British Government approval. In 1848 Lieutenant-Colonel James Gordon developed a definitive plan for the defence of Sydney town which involved 30 heavy guns located at Inner South Head and Middle Head, 9 heavy guns at Sow and Pigs Reef, 2 heavy guns at Pinchgut, work at Bradley's Head and changes to the Dawes Point Battery. The plan was only instigated in part.

The 1850s were heady days for Australia, the goldrushes of inland New South Wales and Victoria bringing unbelievable wealth to both individuals and the country itself. This influx of wealth, coupled with the knowledge that Australia's coastal towns were still vulnerable to attack by sea, led the authorities to fear that raids by foreign ships to plunder the colony's gold reserves were a distinct possibility. Rumours began to circulate that such an attack by American pirates was imminent, and with the outbreak of the American Civil War, there were additional fears that the North may declare war on England and her colonies for aiding the Southern States.

In 1853 a Government Committee on the Defence of Port Jackson recommended harbour defenses be upgraded immediately in view of the threat of an European war with Russia which escalated into the Crimean War (1854-56). Governor FitzRoy appointed Col. Barney to improve harbour defenses. He based his plans on Gordon's recommendations of 1848 which included the arming of the outer harbour utilising fortifications at North, Middle and South Heads. The project was to be short lived. Governor Denison, who arrived in the middle of the building program, abandoned it, shifting the emphasis back on the inner harbour by reinforcing existing works as well as an upgrade of Fort Denison.

In the early 1870s, it was noted that a seemingly never ending stream of Russian naval vessels on long distance "training expeditions" were visiting Australian ports. They seemed to be taking more than a passing interest in Australia, and whilst there was no evidence that an invasion was in the wind, the visits were enough to make the local authorities re-think their defence strategies again. As a result of what became known as the Russian scare, more strategic harbourside land was set aside for military use and a series of fortifications built on them.

These defence upgrades reflect the scares that largely controlled the colonial reaction to events involving England. When a crisis or war scare occurred in England, the colony also felt threatened, and in a knee-jerk reaction, a lot of work was done - more often than not poorly - upgrading the city's defences until the threat of war dissipated or the Government ran out of money - or both. Either way, the job was more or less left unfinished until the next scare.

The Cardwell territorial reforms of 1870 within the British Army resulted in the withdrawal of British garrison troops from Australia. The British Colonial Office insisted that wealthier colonies such as New South Wales and Victoria should pay more of their own defence costs and thus begin to take full responsibility for their own defence. The negotiations and stances taken by both parties in the second half of the 19th century were somewhat convoluted, but nevertheless resulted in Britain giving the Australian states a helping hand in getting themselves started. A fallout from this was the construction of numerous new defence fortifications. In 1871 the first fortifications designed to defend the outer harbour were constructed. These were at Outer and Inner Middle Head, Georges Head, South Head, Steel Point and Bradleys Head. They remained operational but totally ineffective - fortunately they were never required to be put to the test to prove this - until well after World War I.

A pair of military defence advisers were sent out from England in 1877 to co-ordinate the defensive efforts of the colonies. They were Lieutenant Colonel Peter Scratchley and Lieutenant General Sir William Francis Drummond Jervois, both being Royal Engineers with expertise in defence fortifications. Both men advised the Queensland and Tasmanian Government on defence matters. Jervois, who had built military fortiftications in Canada, India, South Afrrica and the Malay peninsula, took responsibility for the creation of defence solutions for Port Phillip. Lt. Scratchley was appointed the Commissioner for Defences in New South Wales. After completion of his duties, Jervois stayed in Australia to become the Governor of South Australia from 2nd October, 1877 to 9th January, 1883, followed by a term as Governor of New Zealand.

During his term of office, Scratchley recommended a series of additional fortifications for Sydney, all of which were outdated even before they were finished. These included additional batteries which built in the 1890s in the Eastern Suburbs to prevent shelling of the residential areas to the east of Sydney and a self-contained fort designed by Scratchley for Bare Island to defend Botany Bay, it being supported by two disappearing guns at Henry Head.

Other useful resources with overviews here:
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/nswcultureheritage/SydneyDefenceHeritage.htm

http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/defending_colonial_sydney

More here for both Sydney and Melbourne Defences

https://files.ehive.com/accounts/201005/objects/files/f3f526a66b2d406997370d8c74504ffc.pdf

RML 9 inch Armstrong Fortress Guns, Fort Gellibrand, Melbourne

These 9 inch (228mm) Rifled Muzzle Loading guns are 12 ton Armstrong Fortress guns (300 pounder guns - actual weight of shot was 256lb). With a 9 man crew, rate of fire was approx one round every 3 minutes with either solid palliser shot or exploding shell ammunition, cast in water cooled moulds to harden the tip to enhance armour penetration. Effective range approx 5000 metres

This pair are situated in Williamstown (near my parents' house), an inner suburb of Melbourne, and cover the final approaches to the port. These guns (Nos 1679 and 1683) purchased by Sir George Vernon in 1866 to upgrade the existing 32 pounder smoothbore guns at Fort Gellibrand, constructed in 1855 during the Crimean War "Invasion Scare", to cover the southern approaches to the harbour.  

The Point Gellibrand shore batteries were first developed as part of an immediate defensive system for the city and port of Melbourne. The strategy for the defence of the port of Melbourne at this time was based on a number of shore batteries inside Port Phillip Bay. 

From the Military History and Heritage of Victoria website here: http://www.mhhv.org.au/?p=2351

"1869 Sir William Armstrong rifled muzzle-loading fortress gun"
- Military History & Heritage Victoria

This pic appears to be the same location as the one above it - quite unchanged really for well over a century earlier (other than a fence!) 

The first permanent battery was built by penal labour on Gellibrand’s Point in 1855. Convicts from the hulks moored offshore were employed on these works and accommodated in an old military barracks at the Fort. The buried central magazine at the Fort dates from this period. Further gun emplacements were added by private contracts, along the foreshore in the 1860’s."

The importance of the Fort batteries declined from the 1890s with the advent of new technologies allowing enemy ships to stand further out and shell Melbourne at range. Accordingly, they were replaced by new outer harbour defences at Queenscliff and Point Nepean, though they were still used for gunnery practice. Local residents, through the Williamstown Town Council, complained to the Acting Minister for Defence that the concussion from the guns damaged windows, walls and foundations of buildings. 

When the cannons were relegated to garden ornaments

Now deemed not just obsolescent but also a public nuance, the Armstrong Cannons were moved from Fort Gellibrand to the Williamstown Gardens in 1906 as static displays, where they stayed until 1970 when the development of the Esplanade saw them taken to their current position.

"Williamstown cannons being fired in 1988" (assumed for the Australian Bicentenary celebrators).
This was the last time the guns were fired

In addition to coastal fortifications, this type of gun was also typically fitted to smaller British ironclads and as the secondary broadside armament on larger battleships. The primary ammunition was solid Palliser shot, primarily employed for Armour Piercing work. Initial design was 1865 and 3 successive upgrades were implemented.

http://www.mhhv.org.au/?p=2351

Two additional Armstrong guns, also originally emplaced at Fort Gellibrand, are displayed in another nearby Melbourne suburb where they were relocated in 1910.

https://historicalragbag.com/2024/07/

https://www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/our-city/history-and-heritage/our-monuments-and-sites/cannons-in-hopetoun-gardens

In Warship development of the 19th century, the transformation from broadside to batteries, turrets and barbettes was just as pivotal as the shift from sail to steam (and took less time too). The excellent Weapons and Warfare site recently publicised an article on this topic which I highly recommend.  While I have reproduced it here in full from the original I strongly recommend you peruse the site for a range of other excellent posts: http://weaponsandwarfare.com/2015/09/16/centre-battery-ship/

Centre-battery ship

Redoutable was a central battery and barbette ship of the French Navy. She was the first warship in the world to use steel as the principal building material.
Compared to iron, steel allowed for greater structural strength for a lower weight. France was the first country to manufacture steel in large quantities, using the Siemens process. At that time, steel plates still had some defects, and the outer bottom plating of the ship was made of wrought iron.
All-steel warships were later built by the Royal Navy, with the dispatch vessels Iris and Mercury, laid down in 1875-1876.

HMS Inflexible was a Victorian ironclad battleship carrying her main armament in centrally placed turrets. The ship was constructed in the 1870s for the Royal Navy to oppose the perceived growing threat from the Italian Regia Marina in the Mediterranean.
The Italian Navy had started constructing a pair of battleships, Duilio and Dandolo, equipped with four Armstrong 15-inch (381 mm) guns weighing 35 tons each. These were superior to the armament of any ship in the British Mediterranean Squadron, and Inflexible was designed as a counter to them.
Packed with innovations, Inflexible mounted larger guns than those of any previous British warship and had the thickest armour ever to be fitted to a Royal Navy ship. Controversially, she was designed so that if her un-armoured ends should be seriously damaged in action and become water-logged, the buoyancy of the armoured centre section of the ship would keep her afloat and upright.
The ship was the first major warship to depend in part for the protection of her buoyancy by a horizontal armoured deck below the water-line rather than armoured sides along the waterline.

The centre-battery ship was a major warship and a development of the ironclad ships. The man behind the design was the newly appointed Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy, Edward James Reed. The centre-battery ships had their main guns concentrated to the middle of the ship in an armoured citadel. The concentration of armament amidships mean the ship could be shorter and handier than a broadside type like previous warships. In this manner the design could maximize the armour in a limited space while still carrying a significant broadside. These ships meant the end of the full deck broadside warships.

The development of major warships in the latter half of the 19th century was extreme. New designs were obsolete by the time of commissioning. The first centre-battery ship was the HMS Bellerophon of 1865. The previous Royal Navy ironclad design, represented by the HMS Warrior, had proven to be seaworthy, fast under power and sail – however, when under sail alone, she had left much to wish for in terms of seagoing qualities.

The disadvantage of the centre-battery was that, while more flexible than the broadside, each gun still had a relatively restricted field of fire and few guns could fire directly ahead. The centre-battery ships were soon succeeded by turreted warships.

Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino had its origins in a private shipyard founded by Giuseppe Tonello at San Marco, on the coastline west of Trieste, in 1838. In 1857, the shipyard was merged with a local manufacturer of marine engines to become STT. A second shipyard was also acquired, at San Rocco near the town of Muggia just south of Trieste.

STT was the largest and most important shipbuilder in the Austrian Empire and its successor state, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The company built most of the Austro-Hungarian Navy’s capital ships, as well as many merchant vessels. In the 1860s and 1870s, STT built five of the Austro-Hungarian Navy’s seven centre-battery ships (a forerunner of the battleship), as well as a number of ironclads, cruisers, frigates and corvettes.

The Never Were Ships catalogue

Found this brilliant collection of old B&W drawings of Italian ship designs which has some great ideas and inspiration for one's Aquanef fleets.
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/bk/NWS/Regia_Marina/Piani_Ferrati_et_altri/index.html

This submersible Battleship is one of my favourites!

More from other countries at the main index here: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/bk/NWS/index.html

USS Nautilus and the Nemo connection

I recently had the opportunity of visiting the US Navy's Submarine Museum, which includes the historic ship USS Nautilus: the world's first nuclear powered vessel and the first submarine to transit across the Arctic and the North Pole.

Its always wonderful to visit a historic vessel and Nautilus was no exception.
During the visit I made three key observations:
- Submarines haven't really changed in design at all since WW2, and even then there only was modest evolution from WW1
- Some of the exact same equipment in Nautilus is still used today (e.g. sound powered telephones)
- In 1957 the French Navy presented the Nautilus with a unique gift which is displayed in her main deck passageway:

And yes, its an authentic version...in French!

Captain Nemo and a certain French author would be proud I think!