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01:44Her staunch iron hull
01:46And impenetrable iron armour
01:49Was like nothing ever seen before
01:51With the launch of this ship in 1860
01:55The age of the ironclads began
02:14The Industrial Revolution is one of the most significant events in modern history
02:26The introduction of mechanised production processes
02:29Led to irreversible changes in Western life
02:33The repercussions of the revolution
02:36Were felt in virtually every field of activity
02:39For the world's naval powers
02:43Industrialisation heralded the dawn of a new age in warship design
02:48In Britain
02:50This resulted in the creation of ships like the great HMS Warrior
02:55Well, the Warrior itself was the first of the ironclad navy, basically
03:02There were another ship in the same class, which was the Black Prince
03:05So this started, if you like, the ironclad trend
03:09It didn't actually last for very long
03:10This ship for about four years was the most powerful warship in the world
03:15And then technology overtook it quite quickly
03:18And when it actually went out of commission in 1883
03:21When you think in the early 1900s
03:25They were building dreadnought battleships in ports with naval base
03:28So that technology moved on so quickly
03:30But this was actually the trigger which started it all
03:33In other regions of the world
03:36Ships unlike anything ever seen before
03:39Would prove themselves in battle
03:41It was an age that changed the design of the warship forever
03:47Although the ironclad warrior never once went to battle
03:51Just months after her commission
03:54The first battle of ironclads did take place
03:57Not in Europe, but across the Atlantic Ocean
04:02In the spring of 1861
04:05The American Civil War broke out
04:08Four years of bloodshed followed
04:11In what was the first major war of the Industrial Age
04:15The American Civil War is not famous as a naval conflict
04:21The decisive battles were fought on land
04:24But in the first year of the war
04:27An engagement took place
04:29Which many analysts believe to be one of the most important naval battles of all time
04:35The battle between the Confederate vessel Merrimack
04:39And the Union ship the Monitor
04:41The battle itself was indecisive
04:44But the technology deployed would influence ship design from that time onwards
04:51The battle between the Merrimack and the Monitor
04:55Is considered significant as it was the first engagement between two ironclad warships
05:01No action like this had ever taken place before
05:05And indeed in 1862 when the action occurred
05:08There were really only four ironclad vessels in the world at the time
05:13The French Lagoir, which had actually begun the ironclad race in Europe
05:18The British HMS Warrior
05:20And the Merrimack and the Monitor
05:22While a lot of people had thought and written
05:27And even built ironclad ships before
05:30The concept had not really been validated in battle
05:34Everybody knew that an ironclad ship was supposed to be more durable
05:40Everybody knew that a ship with a low profile and no sails should be much harder to hit
05:45But nobody had actually gone out on the water and experimented
05:50It had not been validated
05:51And when these two ships came together
05:54They were both proving their technology
05:58And proving the concept of the armoured ship in combat
06:02Just after the outbreak of the American Civil War
06:07The Union forces of the North abandoned the naval base of Norfolk in Virginia
06:12Before they left, they sank many of the ships anchored there
06:17Including the Merrimack, a wooden, steam-powered frigate
06:21The base was quickly occupied by Confederate forces
06:26However, the value of the base to them was limited
06:30At the outbreak of the war
06:33Union leader Abraham Lincoln decided to blockade all southern ports
06:39By doing this, he hoped to restrict the movements of personnel and supplies in the south
06:45Soon, the effectiveness of this blockade became clear
06:50And the value of bases such as Norfolk was sharply curtailed
06:55Existing Confederate ships had little chance of breaking the blockade
07:00A new kind of vessel was required
07:03The problem is that although the south had provided naval officers to the US for years
07:13They didn't have their own shipyards, but a couple
07:18And they didn't have their own sailors, but a very few
07:22So they had to, in the absence of quantity, they had to make up with quality
07:28And in order to have enough durable firepower to protect their own ports
07:36And attack the Union fleet, the much larger, much better equipped, much more replaceable Union fleet
07:43The Confederate states had to have something with a lot of punch and something very survivable
07:49So they had to have an ironclad
07:53The ironclad armour being pioneered in Europe was well known on the other side of the Atlantic
08:00In the summer of 1861, the Confederates decided to use it in an attempt to break the Union blockade
08:09The frigate Merrimack was raised from the bottom of the Norfolk Harbour
08:14Over the next months, under the supervision of Commander John M. Brook, it was transformed into a vessel unlike anything ever seen before
08:25Although the Merrimack was renamed Virginia by the Confederates, it is by her original name that history now remembers her
08:33The original Merrimack was a 3,500 ton frigate with an armament of 40 guns
08:41The new ship would be radically different
08:45They stripped the hull down to the waterline and then rebuilt on top an iron casemate
08:53The iron casemate on the Virginia was constructed of two feet of pitch pine and oak
08:59And covered with a two inch thick sheeting of iron plate
09:03There were also ten gun ports for the armament of the Virginia
09:08But obviously this was very much an ad-hoc design built from a salvaged vessel
09:14One of the best examples of this was the extremely poor turning circle of the Virginia
09:20And it was reckoned it actually took 30 minutes for the vessel to turn a full 180 degrees
09:26At the same time the engines had been underwater
09:30And again, although they were salvaged, it meant the vessel could only make 6 to 8 knots maximum
09:35When the USS Merrimack was converted into the CSS Virginia
09:41A ram was fitted to her that weighed 1,500 pounds
09:47It was a 1,500 pound chunk of iron
09:50And it was 2 feet long ahead of the stem of the Virginia
09:57So it was quite a significant chunk of iron
10:00And that's important in the Confederate states
10:02Because the Confederate states were very weak in industrial might
10:06They did not produce a lot of iron
10:08And in order to provide enough iron just to armor this ship
10:12They had to tear up railways in captured Union territory
10:16Bring the rails down to Richmond
10:18And process them into deck plates and into this iron ram
10:23So it was an allocation of really precious resources on the Virginia
10:27On its first day of battle, this would prove to be a vital innovation
10:33At midday, on the 8th of March 1862
10:38The Merrimack steamed out of Norfolk Harbor ready for battle
10:43In the waterway known as Hampton Roads to the north
10:47Were situated several Union vessels enforcing the blockade
10:51Amongst them, anchored at the Federal Garrison of Newport News
10:56Were the 50-gun Frigate Congress
10:59And the 30-gun Sloop Cumberland
11:02Despite their firepower
11:04These two ships would become the first to fall victim to an ironclad warship
11:13Following an initial exchange of fire with the two Union vessels
11:17The Merrimack's commander, Commodore Buchanan
11:21Made the decision to ram the Cumberland
11:24The idea of a ram is you use the kinetic energy of a moving ship as a weapon
11:30You turn the ship into a missile
11:33And you transfer that kinetic energy to a target
11:36And against the USS Cumberland
11:39The Virginia managed to take all the kinetic energy
11:44Of this heavy iron-plated steam frigate
11:48And drive it right into the side of the USS Cumberland
11:53And it blew a big hole in the Cumberland
11:56Hole big enough to drive a horse through according to some who saw it
12:00And it absolutely sent the USS Cumberland straight to the bottom
12:05The ironclad Merrimack then turned its attention to the Congress
12:10With equally devastating results
12:13The Union frigate's guns made little impression upon its armoured opponent
12:19Surrender soon became inevitable
12:23The wounded were evacuated before the ship was set ablaze
12:27At the end of the day's engagement
12:30The Merrimack was triumphant
12:33The iron armour proved remarkably successful
12:39It had endured fire from over 100 cannon
12:43Including those situated on the shore
12:46This combined firepower barely dented the impenetrable new shield
12:53The sinking of the Cumberland had also proved the effectiveness of the heavy ram
12:59The Confederates were ecstatic
13:02That night, anchored at Sewell's Point
13:05The victorious seamen looked forward to the next day
13:09Then, surely, the Merrimack would engage and destroy the remaining Union vessels
13:16And break Lincoln's blockade
13:19Their day's work would begin with the destruction of the Minnesota
13:25Which had grounded off Newport News
13:28However, when they woke the following morning
13:32They were met by a remarkable sight
13:35A tiny, bizarre-looking vessel awaited them in Hampton Roads Channel to the north
13:41Protecting the Minnesota
13:43It was the Monitor
13:45The first of the Union ironclads
13:48The Confederate forces immediately realized that their day was not going to be so easy after all
13:57Lincoln and the other leaders of the Union
14:00Had also appreciated the potential of the ironclad vessel
14:04And were aware of the construction of the Merrimack
14:08In August 1861
14:11Washington commissioned a steam-powered battery
14:13Suitable for fighting in the shallow waters of the southern coasts
14:17To design it, they chose the man who had earlier been so influential in the development of the screw propeller
14:25John Ericsson
14:27Over the next months in New York
14:30Ericsson constructed from scratch
14:32An entirely new kind of vessel
14:35The ironclad Monitor
14:38The Monitor, designed by the eccentric Swedish designer Ericsson
14:43Really was a unique vessel
14:47It indeed had over 47 patented devices within it
14:53Making it completely unlike any other naval vessel before that time
14:58The Monitor can be described as a harbour defence vessel
15:02It certainly wasn't designed to be a completely seaworthy vessel
15:07And it composed of a very shallow draught vessel
15:11With an armour plated raft over the top
15:14A Confederate veteran who saw it in action
15:17Said that it looked like nothing more than a shingle with a cheese box on top
15:22This refers to the fact that it was extremely low in the water
15:26With this armoured hull
15:28On top then, there was a cast iron pilot's house
15:33Again, armoured
15:34There was then a gun tower
15:36Or what we would now call a turret
15:38With two 11 inch Dahlgren guns
15:41And behind that, there was actually a very innovative ventilation system for the crew
15:46And behind that, a smokestack for the engines
15:50So a very strange vessel, quite unlike any other
15:54It was a small, light fighting ship
15:58172 feet long, 41 feet wide
16:03And weighing just 1,000 tonnes
16:06A complement of crew was just 58
16:09The lightness of the Monitor resulted in a draught of just over 10 feet
16:15Ideal for engagements in shallow water
16:18Her armament consisted of two massive 11 inch, 168 pound guns
16:26The sheer size of the guns is, however
16:30Less important than how they were fixed to the vessel
16:33Ericsson decided to place them on a revolving platform
16:38In a turret, protected by eight layers of inch thick iron plate
16:43Though not an entirely new concept
16:46The revolving gun turret employed on the Monitor
16:50Represented a further significant advance in warship design
16:55The Monitor, again, was unusual
16:58In having a revolving gun turret, or gun tower
17:01Now, in fact, this wasn't entirely a new idea
17:04It had been experimented with, particularly by the French and British navies
17:08Before the 1860s
17:09But nonetheless, the Monitor was the first vessel to use such a tower in action
17:14With only a two gun armament of two 11 inch Dahlgren guns
17:20The standard equipment of the US Navy at the time
17:23The Monitor, obviously, with its very low free board
17:27And a revolving turret, powered by steam
17:30Could actually fire in any direction
17:32This was obviously very much in contrast
17:35To the old idea of the broadside on battleships of the time
17:41This did give the Monitor an advantage
17:44But given the black powder weapons of the day
17:46Which, when fired, produced great clouds of smoke
17:49It did mean that, given the problems of visibility
17:52That, in fact, the gun tower was not quite as valuable
17:56As it might otherwise have been
17:58The Monitor's turret was an early working model of a moving gun turret
18:06And the technology had not really worked out a way of making a turret watertight
18:11So, while the Monitor's turret was expected to be watertight
18:16From the pressure of its enormous weight on the deck below
18:20And on its mounting ring
18:22It was actually not nearly watertight
18:26And when they tried to make it a bit more watertight
18:29By putting a cable between the turret and the deck
18:31Trying to provide a water seal
18:33The sort of thing that a modern ship might do with a rubber O-ring
18:37Or something like that
18:38The turret allowed water to flow right in
18:41And water just poured in, like Niagara Falls
18:45Making the Monitor very uncomfortable
18:48The Monitor was launched on the 30th of January, 1862
18:54Five weeks later, on the 6th of March
18:57She left New York for Virginia
19:00Nothing like her had ever been seen before
19:03One description of her likened her to a cheese box on a raft
19:09The question was whether her radical design would prove effective in battle
19:15She did not have long to wait
19:18On the evening of March the 8th
19:21The Monitor arrived at Hampton Roads
19:24The crew could see for themselves the results of the day's fighting
19:29The Congress was still burning
19:32And the flag of the sunken Cumberland could still be seen above the water
19:37The Predicament of the beached Minnesota was also established
19:42It was obvious that the day belonged to the Confederates
19:46Early on Sunday morning
19:50The ship that had caused such devastation was sighted by the Monitor
19:54The Commander, Captain John Worden
19:58Ordered that his ship should be positioned between the stricken Minnesota and the anchored Merrimac
20:04There, it would wait for morning
20:07And the first ever engagement between two ironclad warships
20:13Shortly after half past seven, on Sunday March the 9th
20:18The Merrimac raised anchor and steamed towards the Monitor
20:23For the inevitable confrontation
20:25Despite their difference in size
20:38The two new vessels were quickly joined in even combat
20:42Broad sides from the Merrimac were answered with fire from the Monitor's massive turret-mounted guns
20:49All attempts by the Merrimac to reach the Minnesota were thwarted by the Union ship
20:56Her light weight allowed her to manoeuvre far more easily than her opponent
21:02With a draft twice that of the Monitor, the Merrimac was confined to the deeper areas of the water
21:09The flexibility offered by the revolving gun also gave the Monitor an advantage over the fixed guns of the Merrimac
21:19But the ironclad Monitor was firing at an ironclad target
21:25Despite repeated hits, the armour plating on both ships held firm
21:31In addition, the Monitor's turret gun could not fire directly ahead for fear of hitting the pilot-house to the front of the vessel
21:41With the battle evenly poised, the Commander of the Merrimac decided to repeat the ramming manoeuvre that had already proved so devastating
21:51His ship steamed full speed ahead towards the Monitor
21:57Alert to the danger, the Monitor turned and the Merrimac struck only a glancing blow
22:04The manoeuvre failed, although it may have had no chance to begin with
22:10The Merrimac no longer possessed its massive ramming wedge
22:15It had been poorly fitted and had fallen off when the Cumberland was rammed the afternoon before
22:22By midday, the two remarkable ships were still fighting
22:29Their armour proving totally effective
22:32Then, at just after 12 o'clock, the Merrimac gunners struck a vulnerable area of the Monitor
22:40Engaging at a distance of just 10 yards
22:44A shell from the Merrimac penetrated the viewing slit of the Monitor's pilot-house
22:50The structure was damaged
22:52And Captain Worden was badly injured in the blast
22:56Though blinded, he interpreted the flood of light now entering the pilot-house
23:01As a sign of serious damage
23:05Before handing over command to the ship's executive officer
23:09He ordered that the Monitor withdraw so that the damage could be assessed
23:16Although the shell's impact had not been as devastating as Worden had believed
23:21The withdrawal marked the end of the battle
23:24The Monitor moved towards the Minnesota
23:27Over the shallow waters where the Merrimac could not follow
23:31An hour later, Commander Buchanan ordered the Merrimac back to Norfolk Harbor
23:37His crew exhausted after two days of fighting
23:41Later that day, the Minnesota was evacuated
23:46On both sides, the perception was that the remarkable battle had ended in a draw
23:54The two vessels would not meet in battle again
24:00For the next two months, the Merrimac remained in Norfolk
24:04And the Monitor in Hampton Roads
24:06In a standoff that would not be broken
24:10In May 1862, the Confederates evacuated Norfolk
24:16And destroyed the remarkable Merrimac
24:18Its great adversary also failed to survive the year
24:22On December the 29th, it sunk in a storm off North Carolina
24:28With the loss of 16 men
24:30The influence of both vessels would far outlive their active service
24:36The advantages of ironclad vessels were now proven without doubt
24:42Over the course of a six-hour battle, the Merrimac and Monitor had both withstood firepower
24:56That would have completely destroyed any non-armoured ship of the time
25:00All of which were now also vulnerable to the ramming technique
25:04The brilliant design of the Monitor clearly demonstrated the advantages of a light, manoeuvrable vessel
25:14The revolving turret gun had also arrived for good
25:18In the space of just 24 hours, the face of naval warfare had changed forever
25:28In some respects, we can actually see both the Monitor and the Virginia
25:33As unusual attempts to deal with an unusual situation
25:37Particularly from the Confederate side, they were desperate to produce any kind of ironclad warship
25:45Which would stand up to the Union's wooden hulled fleet
25:49And thus the idea of a very high casemate on top of a wooden hull
25:54Was really the only solution they could adopt, given their materials
25:58Not surprisingly, that was not a solution adopted by other navies
26:04Who could construct ships from the keel upwards
26:07At the same time, the design of the Monitor, while unusual
26:11And carried through by the United States Navy for the next 20 years or so
26:16Was not a design really adopted by any other fleet
26:20In fact, the future of ocean-going warships lay far more with the Warrior
26:27With its very good ocean-going capabilities
26:30And in time, the Royal Navy was able to evolve that type of design
26:35Into one using gun turrets
26:37And much more like the warships that we know of the 20th century
26:41For the world's naval powers, industrialisation heralded the dawn of a new age in warship design
26:56Industrialisation led directly to the introduction of the steamship
27:01And the demise of the sailing ship
27:04In the first half of the 19th century, steam power began to take over
27:11Commercial shipping led the way
27:14In the early 1800s, the paddle steamer became a common sight around the coasts and inland waterways
27:21Such as the River Mississippi
27:24The crossing of the Atlantic by the Savannah in 1819
27:28Announced the arrival of the ocean-going steamship
27:32By 1840, the Cunard Company had introduced the first regular transatlantic steamer
27:39The great naval powers of the time
27:44Soon began to take an interest in steam-powered vessels
27:49Frigates, driven by paddles, were commissioned by both the French and British navies
27:55But these early steam warships suffered from major drawbacks
28:01The propulsion mechanism was bulky, taking up valuable space on the vessel, which would be required for guns
28:08Paddle steamers were also especially vulnerable to enemy attack
28:14It would only take a single cannon shot to destroy the paddle and render the vessel useless
28:21A new innovation was required before the age of steam power at sea could begin
28:28This was the introduction of the screw propeller
28:32The advantages of the screw propeller were obvious
28:37Soon, the world's navies were dominated by ships fitted with them
28:42Despite this, the early boilers used to generate the steam were often inefficient and prone to break down
28:51Many vessels were therefore provided with both steam and sail power
28:57In the mid-19th century, the age of sail was still far from over
29:03By the 1850s, the ships that fought at Trafalgar would have been vulnerable in any contemporary battle
29:18The 19th century saw radical developments in cannon design
29:23The introduction of breech-loading artillery, the development of the rifled barrel
29:29And a general increase in the sheer size of guns
29:32Resulted in a far more powerful weapon than ever before
29:38The Armstrong 110-pounder from 1860 is, perhaps, the most remarkable and best known of the new breed of 19th century cannon
29:48It did not fire the traditional iron ball, but a new kind of projectile
29:56Pioneered in France in the 1820s, this new projectile would profoundly influence the design of warships
30:05It was the high explosive shell
30:09The only form of explosive in the 19th century was gunpowder
30:13Not a particularly effective explosive, a good propellant
30:17But when you move to the high explosive, the chemical explosives
30:22Such as Liddite
30:24And later the well-known ones like TNT and so on
30:27Those provided much greater power
30:30And that led to the use of them in shells
30:34Which then fragmented the body of the shell
30:37Providing the splinters and the blast would do damage
30:40The introduction of the shell changed the nature of naval warfare forever
30:47Before its introduction, a typical wooden hulled warship could withstand a huge range of direct hits from cannonballs
30:55Against shell fire, the story was very different
31:00The shell's effectiveness against a timber hull was devastating
31:05Designers urgently needed to consider ways of strengthening warships to cope with the new dangers
31:13More than any other reason, this was the motivation behind the development of the iron plants
31:19The wooden ship had come to the end of being able to put large weapons in it
31:26It had reached the limit of its strength
31:29In other words, you couldn't have put guns of this size in a wooden ship
31:32It just wouldn't have been strong enough to do that
31:34So the concept was, it was basically for strength and protection, was to use an iron hulled ship
31:40Experiments with iron hulled warships began in the 1840s
31:47In Britain, France and elsewhere
31:51Designers sought to use the undoubted strength of iron
31:55As defence against the new innovation
31:58Many of the early experiments were discouraging
32:02In 1840, the British carried out an experiment involving the Ruby
32:08A ship modified with a light iron armour
32:12The results were disappointing
32:15The iron fragmented when exposed to test fire
32:19But the need for improved ship protection
32:23Meant that experiments with iron continued
32:26A number of small vessels, armoured with metal
32:31Were deployed by the French during the Crimean War
32:34The armour succeeded in deflecting Russian shell fire
32:39The implication was obvious
32:41Iron armour could be effective
32:44At the time of the Crimean War, however
32:47The production of large quantities of iron
32:50Was still a difficult and expensive procedure
32:53Of all the innovations of the Industrial Revolution
32:57The mass production of high quality iron
33:00Is amongst the most important of all
33:03The name of Sir Henry Bessemer
33:06Is forever associated with this process
33:08By developing the modern blast furnace in 1855
33:13Bessemer changed the world forever
33:16His invention enabled iron to be produced
33:20At a fraction of the previous cost
33:24The metal produced by the Bessemer process
33:27Was also tough
33:28It lacked the brittleness
33:30That had caused the experiment with the Ruby to fail
33:33The modern blast furnace
33:36Meant that the iron warship
33:38Was now within the grasp of the world's naval powers
33:42In 1858, the French Navy stunned the world
33:47With the launch of La Gloire, a warship
33:52256 feet in length
33:55La Gloire was originally an unremarkable wooden frigate
34:00By removing one of its decks
34:02And then casing its wooden hull within iron plates
34:06The French naval designers created the world's first iron plan
34:11And started an arms race in the process
34:16There was no way that Britain could ignore the arrival of La Gloire
34:21If the French built a fleet of similar vessels
34:24British dominance of the seas could not be maintained
34:27With their existing wooden ships
34:30National security, as well as national pride, demanded a response
34:36The year after the French launched their new vessel
34:40The Admiralty ordered the first British iron clad
34:44To build it, they called on the Navy's chief constructor of ships, Isaac Watts
34:51The vessel that he would design
34:53Would make La Gloire pale into insignificance
34:57It would be far and away the greatest warship on the planet
35:01On the 29th of December 1860, at Blackwall near London
35:07A new age in sea power began
35:10That day saw the launch of HMS Warrior
35:14To this day, the Warrior is an inspiring feat of design and engineering
35:31At the time, it was astonishing
35:34It was half as big a gain as its French rival
35:38380 feet in length, it was the longest warship ever built
35:44Unlike La Gloire, the Warrior's hull was made entirely of iron
35:49Resulting in an overall weight of 9,210 tons
35:55Like many warships of its day, it could be powered either by steam or sail
36:02The engine capacity was 5,000 horsepower, generating a speed of 14 knots
36:09Under sail, its speed was scarcely less impressive
36:13Over 48,000 square feet of sail resulted in a maximum of 13 knots
36:22Its dimensions were almost overwhelming
36:26But matched the cost of commissioning the vessel
36:29The Warrior's total cost was 377,000 pounds
36:34Almost four times the cost of a contemporary frigate
36:39In the arms race, the British considered this a sound investment
36:48The Warrior, she engaged in no battles at all
36:51She was Queen Victoria's ultimate deterrent, if you like
36:54The most successful warship ever built
36:57This was devised and built in about two years
37:00And as opposed to an ironclad wooden ship
37:04This one is the first all iron steam driven warship
37:09It's an iron hole with 18 inches of teak around the outside of that
37:13And then four and a half inches of armour plate around the outside of that
37:17The actual hole's five eighths of an inch thick of wrought iron
37:22Wrought iron to start with, it doesn't rust
37:25One of the reasons why it's still afloat today
37:27And of course it's much much stronger
37:30But she finished up to be the largest warship in the world
37:33The fastest warship in the world
37:35The most heavily armed
37:37And the most heavily armoured
37:39She was built to frighten the life out of Napoleon
37:42And she certainly did that
37:44There was no fighting for 60 years prior to World War I
37:47Mainly because of Warrior
37:50And her sister ship the Black Prince
37:53Putting Napoleon off
37:55Napoleon called it the Black Snake
37:58The Warrior's impact stemmed not only from its dimensions
38:03It was also an awesome vessel of war
38:07Its massive single gun deck
38:09Boasted 26, 68 pound guns
38:13All with the traditional smoothbore
38:16And loaded via the muzzle
38:18This represented a powerful armament in itself
38:22But the Warrior was equipped with even greater firepower
38:27Ten Armstrong 110-pounders were also fitted
38:32This was the first time
38:35That these rifled, breech-loading guns
38:38Had been fitted to any vessel
38:40Having been developed whilst Warrior was under construction
38:45There are great advantages to breech-loading
38:49For long, narrow guns
38:51If you think in terms of the early guns
38:55Which tended to be long
38:57With serpentine powder
38:59Then that kind of gun
39:02If it was being fired on a ship
39:04Would have to take a lot of effort
39:06To bring inboard, swing around
39:08So that you could then pass the powder and shot
39:11Down to the breech end of the gun
39:14If you could actually load it at the breech end
39:16You then didn't have to bring the gun inboard
39:18So there are big advantages to breech-loading
39:21The problem was always the sealing of the gases
39:24At the joint between the chamber piece and the barrel
39:28Because as pressure builds up
39:30If the gases try and get out through that joint
39:34Then it can produce gas wash, wear
39:37And the result is loss of pressure in the gun
39:39And danger, in fact, for the gunner
39:41And solving that problem of sealing the gases
39:45Was not really solved until the 19th century
39:49The Armstrong was still a new invention
39:52And technical difficulties with the weapon
39:54Eventually led the Navy to return briefly
39:57To traditional muzzle loaders
39:59By the end of the century, however
40:02The rifled breech-loader
40:04Was the cannon of choice for the world's naval powers
40:13Despite its impressive proportions
40:16Performance and firepower
40:18It is not for these factors
40:20That the warrior remains an important warship of history
40:24As we have seen
40:26The warrior's hull was constructed from iron
40:29However, this is not why she is known as an ironclad
40:34This term refers to the additional armour
40:38Incorporated into the warrior's design
40:41It was this armour
40:43That made the warrior such a revolutionary vessel of its time
40:47In the middle of the vessel
40:49Isaac Watts constructed what he called a citadel
40:53This was, simply, an armoured box
40:56Which contained much of the gun deck
40:59Including 18 of the 68-pounders
41:02And 8 of the 110-pound Armstrongs
41:06The purpose of the citadel
41:09Was to protect these weapons from enemy attack
41:12This hull that we are standing in now
41:15Is in fact an armoured box
41:17With the outside of the box
41:19Is four and a half inches of armoured plate
41:21Backed up with 18 inches of wood
41:23And the two ends of the box
41:25Are four and a half inches of armoured plate
41:27And nine inches of wood
41:29And that was what was revolutionary
41:31Inasmuch that all the armoury, all main armours
41:35Actually contained inside this box
41:37Unlike the wooden warship
41:38Where they were distributed all around the ship
41:41This particular ship
41:42At the time it was around
41:44There were no weapons available
41:45That could have penetrated the armour box
41:47We're standing in now
41:48So it could have taken almost indefinite firepower in
41:52Because without any damage
41:54Except, of course, you would have had damage
41:56To the masts and the rigging above
41:58But the actual main box
42:00Would have been very well protected
42:02Firing tests demonstrated the impregnability
42:05Of the iron cladding
42:07No matter what the range
42:10No matter what the gun
42:12The warrior's citadel
42:14Remained entirely intact against shell fire
42:17The armour did not protect the areas of the ship
42:21Towards the bow and stern
42:23But here too
42:24Watts and his engineers
42:26Incorporated a further innovation
42:29The iron hull of the ship
42:32Enabled the construction of watertight compartments
42:35Separated by bulkheads
42:37With a timber hull
42:39This would not have been an option
42:42The recently restored warrior
42:45Remains a glorious vessel to this day
42:48The impression it must have made
42:50Upon the Britain of the 1860s
42:53Can only be guessed at
42:55In its size and its speed
42:57It was unsurpassed
42:59Its firepower was massive and innovatory
43:03Its armour made it virtually invincible
43:07And this was the view of many
43:09Within the British naval community
43:11Elated, the Admiralty ordered further vessels
43:15Along the lines of the warrior
43:17The iron clad warship had arrived
43:22It seems surprising
43:24That such a great ship of war
43:26Never once fired a shot in anger
43:28During her years of service
43:30This is however
43:32A tribute to her power
43:34In simple terms
43:36No enemy would dare take her on
43:39Almost overnight
43:41The strategic balance of the seas had changed
43:46The business of warship design
43:48Usually develops in small successive steps
43:52The design of the warrior
43:54Represented a giant leap forward
43:57Portsmouth is famous for Nelson's flagship victory
44:02And her victories in battle
44:04The warrior is famous for her advances in ship design
44:12As the great battle took place in Virginia
44:15Across the Atlantic
44:16HMS warrior continued her first commission
44:20On patrol in the seas around Britain
44:23Remarkably
44:25Remarkably
44:26The lessons learnt
44:27In the shallow waters
44:28Of Hampton Roads
44:29Would soon make
44:30This superb ironclad obsolete
44:32There was an enormous difference
44:36Between the warrior
44:37And the Virginia
44:38While the warrior
44:40Was a purpose built
44:41Ocean going
44:42Ironclad vessel
44:44Designed specifically
44:45To compete
44:46And indeed surpass
44:47The French ship
44:48French ironclad
44:49Laguar
44:50The Virginia
44:51Was very much
44:52An ad hoc arrangement
44:53The warrior
44:54Was built
44:55From the keel up
44:56As an iron ship
44:57And it was also
44:58Not expected
45:00To work exclusively
45:02Under coal power
45:04So the warrior
45:05Expects to proceed
45:06Under sail
45:07Most of the time
45:08And to go
45:09Under steam
45:10Only for
45:11Tight maneuvering
45:12Or in combat
45:13Well
45:14The CSS Virginia
45:15Was a steam powered vessel
45:18That did not expect
45:19To work under sail
45:20And it could
45:22Take that classical idea
45:24Of a ram
45:25On the front of a ship
45:27And revive it
45:29You couldn't use a ram
45:30On a sailing ship
45:31Very well
45:32Because most of the time
45:33You couldn't count
45:34On the wind blowing
45:35Just the right way
45:36To allow you to ram
45:37The enemy ship
45:38As well
45:39The force of ramming
45:41Another ship
45:42Might very well
45:43Unstep your own masts
45:45And cause damage
45:46To your own vessel
45:47So for years and years
45:48Nobody had tried
45:49To put rams
45:50On ships of war
45:51The CSS Virginia
45:54Could take
45:55The entire mass
45:56Of a ship
45:57And turn it
45:58Into a weapon again
45:59Across the world
46:01Warship designers
46:03Now sought new abilities
46:05From their fleets
46:06The ram
46:07As used by the Merrimack
46:09Was incorporated into British vessels
46:12Like HMS Hotspur
46:14From 1870
46:16The following year
46:18HMS Devastation came into service
46:21The first of the true British armoured turret ships
46:25Improvements in steam power
46:28Combined with the difficulties of firing a turret gun
46:31Whilst under sail
46:32Resulted in the introduction of ships like this
46:36The mastless warship
46:38The days of sail were numbered
46:42The same year HMS Warrior was withdrawn for refitting
46:48She would never again play a frontline role in the Royal Navy
46:53Eight years as a reserve ship followed before her decommissioning in 1883
47:01For two decades she languished in Portsmouth Harbour
47:05Before being employed as part of the Navy's floating torpedo school
47:10However, she remained intact
47:13And for most of the 20th century
47:16She was used as an oil jetty in Milford Haven
47:19Her historical significance remained however
47:23And in 1979
47:25She was towed to the port of Hartlepool for restoration
47:29Eight years of painstaking work later
47:33She returned to Portsmouth in her full original glory
47:38The influence of the Monitor and the Merrimac
47:41May have been greater in the long run
47:44Only HMS Warrior survives as a reminder
47:49Of the birth of the Iron Plans
48:08The
48:19One
48:21To
48:22To
48:23To
48:24To
48:25To
48:27To
48:31Gracias por ver el video.
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