Iron Shipbuilding on the Thames, 1832–1915 by A.J. Arnold

Author:A.J. Arnold [Arnold, A.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General
ISBN: 9781351749596
Google: a-1HDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-11-22T01:31:43+00:00

Thames Iron Works (Yard 2: Orchard and Bow Creek Shipyard) — see also Appendix 3

Thames Ironworks obtained the order for the first all-iron ship, HMS Warrior in 1859, partly because they were known to make 'hammered armour of proven quality' (Hume and Moss 1979, p. 23)28 and began building it on 25 May 1859, the same day that John Penn and Sons of Greenwich were awarded the contract for the Warrior's twin-cylinder horizontal single expansion trunk engines.

The Warrior was the largest warship in the world (at 9,210 displacement tons, 380 feet long and with 1,250-horse power engines) and had the largest iron hull to have been constructed apart from the Great Eastern. More importantly, it was the 'biggest advance on previous warship designs made in the history of naval warfare ... her iron construction enabled her to be so big that she could carry the heavier guns and the proof armour and be subdivided into water-tight compartments below, a thing not possible in a wooden ship'.29

The Warrior was originally scheduled to be launched eleven months after construction started and then completed for sea in another three, i.e. by July 1860, but it soon became clear to all concerned that these dates were far too optimistic, particularly given the design changes which the Admiralty made while the work was in progress. Nonetheless, the Warrior was completed with less delay than the Black Prince, which was being built on the Clyde and its construction, using the longitudinal system, was a 'great novelty to all ship constructors' (Bowen 1945, p. 375).

Its plates were to be 4.5 inches thick (plates less than 4 inches thick were known to provide ineffective protection) and were to be 'bolted to the 5/8 inch skin of the iron hull through 18in of teak, composed of two 9in baulks laid crossways, the whole to be recessed into the side of the ship, leaving the external surface of the armour flush with the hull plating of the areas that were not protected. Each plate was 3ft wide and 12ft long, (Lambert 1987, p. 67) and, during construction, the Admiralty decided that the horizontal joint faces of the plates should be made to interlock, in 'tongued and grooved' style, to provide more strength, a modification which was very difficult to implement and caused much of the overall delay period.

In September 1860, a serious fire broke out which destroyed a good deal of property in the Middlesex yard and seriously set back that yard's shipbuilding programme. Virtually all the sawing, moulding and planing mills and related machinery (driven by a steam-engine of some 60 hp) was destroyed, along with £10-15,000 worth of recently delivered teak, mahogany and oak in a huge bonfire at the dead of night, which was visible for eight to ten miles around. The fire was thought to have started in the engine-house and, despite its early discovery by the night watchman, it spread rapidly. Despite the help given by the working population from the adjacent Trinity-wharf, the dockyard of Mr Green and the efforts of the fire-crews, the fire burnt until 5am.

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