HMS Devastation (1873)

History of the Destruction of the HMS (1873)

In the late 1870s, Sir Edward J. Reed (1830-1906), Director of Naval Construction (DNC) at the British Admiralty, encountered the installation of a full voyage while developing a new "turret battleship" The question of equipment comes to a 13,000-ton iron ship. How can the wind propel an iron ship with enough speed to overtake or avoid other iron ships? Reed gave the Admiralty a radical design for a never-before-seen dwarf battleship that was faithful to the wind, canvas and wood of traditional masted ships. Royal Navy battleships and cruisers designed and built in the mid-1880s (as well as those of other naval powers of the time) were outfitted with full sailing equipment on steam-powered iron hulls.

This limits the firing angle and position of the weapon while adding unnecessary weight. Despite the traditionally accepted approach, the times of the Navy are changing.

The ship in question became HMS Doom, the world's first ocean-going capital ship not to show off sails, and the first to have all of its weapons mounted above the hull rather than inside it. The British Navy changed history again.

HMS Doom was built on 12 November 1869, a radical "pre-dreadnought" battleship with iron turrets. The ship retained a mast early on, which, although the unit had no sails, was dedicated to lookout points and ship-to-ship (or shore) signaling. However, the mast was eventually removed in an 1891 revision. She has a 10ft freeboard and her midship superstructure is conventional, including her funnel and bridge works.

Reed's Doom had a tall superstructure, and her vents and funnels sat safely above the waves (unlike the famous USS Monitor, which had no freeboard at all, causing her to sink in 20-foot waves). At the time of construction, the Doom featured 4 x 12-inch front-loading guns mounted in two turrets, front and rear, and protected by 12-inch wrought iron armor belts. The absence of a mast allowed the gun to work fore and aft, rather than just for broadside as was the case with early sailing ships and ships.

To round out her offensive weapons pack, she placed a ram below the waterline that could pierce the hull of enemy ships within the capabilities of the main gun - a return to ancient warfare from the 1950s - the rowing Greek "Pentagram" - Sailing Galley.

The Destroyer has electric lighting and electric auxiliary ammo lifts, while protection is provided by composite armor. Both towers have a launch angle of 280 degrees each, which can only be achieved without a mast. Her hull is mostly iron, with teak panels covering the front and rear decks. She was powered by the reliable Penn 2-cylinder dry steam engine - the standard propulsion option for British warships at the time. A key reason for choosing them was their inherently compact size, which allowed them to fit on smaller battleships.

This, combined with a low center of gravity, makes for a more tactically friendly profile. A major limitation of these engine types is their inherent operating costs, which require more coal to generate electricity than competing steam power plants.

The mainline engine did not work well with high pressure boilers, and the two-stroke type was abandoned in favor of the "Triple Expansion Engine" included in the 1890 overhaul.

The new Triple Expansion Engine (TEE) is a steam-based power plant in which steam is expanded in three stages in cylinders of increasing diameter to accommodate the increasing volume of steam. The piston chamber of the third cycle means that the TEE produces 30% more steam or power than the old two-stroke engine.

The TEE provides greater efficiency as well as greater range and speed while using the same amount of fuel in a two-stroke design. The superior performance of the TEE made it the new standard of choice for most naval powers, which in turn made it possible to build larger, more powerful battleships.

In 1890, the Royal Navy decided to replace the breech-loading guns of its capital ship fleet with breech-loading gun types, based in part on data compiled from HMS Doom's service records. In an 1890 modification, the Royal Navy BL installed a 10" (254 mm) breech-loading gun in a turret that once housed a 12" system.

The new gun has a muzzle velocity of 622 m/s (2,040 feet per second), a maximum range of 9,100 m (10,000 yards), and an automatic 500-pound (226.8 kg) loader and chargeer. The advantages of the new breech-loading gun are shorter reload times (no need to break the gun), while the system also requires fewer personnel to operate efficiently. Shells and charges are also loaded through the breech rather than the muzzle, eliminating the need to bring the gun into the ship for reloading.

The breech operates via an interrupted bolt, a mechanical device that closes the breech through a series of engraved threads to ensure that any defective internal detonating ammunition is relatively contained within the weapon - this is for the crew and the ship Safeguard. During the 1890 refit, the decision to add more weapons was a good one: 6 x 6 lb and 8 x 3 lb rapid-fire guns were placed around the superstructure at the widest possible firing angle.

Despite 37 years on the water, the HMS Doom has never fired in anger. Before being refitted in 1890, her main duty was to monitor for 20 years between the Home Fleet and the British base in Gibraltar.

After refit in 1890, Doom joined the Reserve Fleet from Scotland, stationed to protect the Queen while she was there. Doom was immediately called off in 1906 and officially disbanded in May 1908.

Two ships eventually made up the Doom class: HMS Devastation as the main ship, and HMS Thunderer (1872) as her sister. The Thunderer itself was decommissioned in 1909 and scrapped the following July. This ended the reign of the Doom class serving in the Royal Navy.

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