A history of the growth of the steam-engine . eet deep, with engines of 5,000 horse-power, cross-ing the Atlantic in 7J days ; iron substituted for wood inconstruction, the cost of fuel reduced one-half, and thespeed raised from 8 to 15 knots and over. In the earlierdays of steamships they were given a proportion of lengthto breadth of from 5 to 6 to 1 ; in forty years the propor-tion increased until 11 to 1 was reached. The whole naval establishment of every country hasbeen greatly modified by the recent changes in methods ofattack and defense ; but the several classes of ships whichstill for
A history of the growth of the steam-engine . eet deep, with engines of 5,000 horse-power, cross-ing the Atlantic in 7J days ; iron substituted for wood inconstruction, the cost of fuel reduced one-half, and thespeed raised from 8 to 15 knots and over. In the earlierdays of steamships they were given a proportion of lengthto breadth of from 5 to 6 to 1 ; in forty years the propor-tion increased until 11 to 1 was reached. The whole naval establishment of every country hasbeen greatly modified by the recent changes in methods ofattack and defense ; but the several classes of ships whichstill form the naval marine are all as dependent upon theirsteam-machinery as ever. It is only recently that the attempt seems to have beenmade to determine a classification of war-vessels and toplan a naval establishment which shall be likely to meet18 410 THE STEAM-ENGINE OP TO-DAY. fully the requirements of the immediate future. It hashitherto been customary simply to make each ship a littlestronger, faster, or more powerful to resist or to make r. MARINE ENGINES. 411 attack than was the last. The fact that the direction ofprogress in naval science and architecture is plainly perceiv-able, and that upon its study may be based a fair estimateof the character and relative distribution of several classesof vessels, seems to have been appreciated by very few. In the year 1870 the writer proposed a classification ofvessels other than torpedo-vessels, which has since been alsoproposed in a somewhat modified form by Mr. J. ScottRussell. The author then remarked that the increase sorapidly occurring in weight of ordnance and of armor, andin speed of war-vessels, would probably soon compel a di-vision of the vessels of every navy into three classes ofships, exclusive of torpedo-vessels, one for general servicein time of peace, the others for use only in time of war. The first class may consist of unarmored vessels ofmoderate size, fair speed under steam, armed with a fewtolerably heavy guns,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidc, booksubjectsteamengines
