Category Archives: warship wednesday

Warship Wednesday March 14

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steampunk navies of the 1880s-1930s and will profile a different ship each week.

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, March 14

Here we have the USS Massachusetts

USS Massachusetts (Battleship No. 2) was an Indiana-class battleship and the second United States Navy ship comparable to foreign battleships of the time. Authorized in 1890 and commissioned six years later, she was a small battleship, though with heavy armor and ordnance. The ship class also pioneered the use of an intermediate battery. She was designed for coastal defense and as a result her decks were not safe from high waves on the open ocean.

Massachusetts served in the Spanish–American War (1898) as part of the Flying Squadron and took part in the blockades of Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba. She missed the decisive Battle of Santiago de Cuba after steaming to Guantánamo Bay the night before to resupply coal. After the war she served with the North Atlantic Squadron, performing training maneuvers and gunnery practice. During this period she suffered an explosion in an 8-inch gun turret, killing nine, and ran aground twice, requiring several months of repair both times. She was decommissioned in 1906 for modernization.

Although considered obsolete in 1910, the battleship was recommissioned and used for annual cruises for midshipmen during the summers and otherwise laid up in the reserve fleet until her decommissioning in 1914. In 1917 she was recommissioned to serve as a training ship for gun crews during World War I. She was decommissioned for the final time in March 1919 under the name Coast Battleship Number 2 so that her name could be reused for USS Massachusetts (BB-54). In 1921 she was scuttled in shallow water off the coast of Pensacola, Florida and then used as a target for experimental artillery. The ship was never scrapped and in 1956 it was declared the property of the state of Florida. Since 1993 the wreck has been a Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve and is included in the National Register of Historic Places. It serves as an artificial reef and diving spot.

Displacement:     10,288 long tons (10,453 t; 11,523 ST)
Length:     350 ft 11 in (106.96 m)
Beam:     69 ft 3 in (21.11 m)
Draft:     27 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion:

Two vertical inverted triple expansion reciprocating steam engines
4 double ended Scotch boilers later replaced by 8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers
9,000 ihp (6.7 MW) (design)
10,400 ihp (7.8 MW) (trial)

Speed:

15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) (design)
16.2 kn (30.0 km/h; 18.6 mph) (trial)

Range:     4,900 nmi (9,100 km; 5,600 mi)
Complement:     473 officers and men
Armament:

4 × 13″/35 gun (2×2)
8 × 8″/35 gun (4×2)
4 × 6″/40 gun removed 1908
12 × 3″/50 gun added 1910
20 × 6-pounders
6 × 1 pounder guns
5 × Whitehead torpedo tubes

Armor:     Harveyized steel

Belt: 18–8.5 in (460–220 mm)
13″ turrets: 15 in (380 mm)
Hull: 5 in (130 mm)

Conventional nickel-steel

Tower: 10 in (250 mm)
8″ turrets: 6 in (150 mm)
Deck: 3 in (76 mm)

Warship Wednesday March 7th

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steampunk navies of the 1880s-1930s and will profile a different ship each week.

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, March 7

Here we have the USS Oregon BB-3

USS Oregon (BB-3) was a pre-Dreadnought Indiana-class battleship of the United States Navy. Her construction was authorized on 30 June 1890,

Oregon with her warpaint on in 1898. She steamed 14,000 miles in 66 days, over 212 miles per day, to reach Cuba from the West Coast

In 1898 she steamed 14,000 miles in 66 days, a remarkable feat of seamanship for the iron hulled steam navy. She took part in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, where she and the cruiser Brooklyn were the only ships fast enough to chase down the Spanish cruiser Cristóbal Colón, forcing its surrender. Around this time she received the nickname “Bulldog of the Navy”. She was still afloat in WWI and served as an escort for US troops to Siberia in 1918. The next year she was decommed for the last time and turned into a floating museum operated by the state of Oregon from 1925-41, one of the first of its kind in the country.

When WWII started the city donated her back to the navy and she was used as an ammunition barge during the battle of Guam, finally being broken up in 1956…in Japan.

Displacement:     10,288 long tons (10,453 t; 11,523 ST)
Length:     351 ft 2 in (107.04 m)
Beam:     69 ft 3 in (21.11 m)
Draft:     27 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion:

Two vertical inverted triple expansion reciprocating steam engines[2]
4 double ended Scotch boilers
9,000 ihp (6.7 MW) (design)[3]
11,111 ihp (8.285 MW) (trial)

Speed:

15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) (design)[3]
16.8 kn (31.1 km/h; 19.3 mph) (trial)

Range:     5,600 nmi (10,400 km; 6,400 mi)[a][4]
Complement:     473 officers and men[5]
Armament:

4 × 13″/35 gun (2×2)
8 × 8″/35 gun (4×2)
4 × 6″/40 gun removed 1908
12 × 3″/50 gun added 1910
20 × 6-pounders
6 × 1 pounder guns
5 × Whitehead torpedo tubes[b]

Armor:     Harveyized steel

Belt: 18–8 in (460–200 mm)
13″ turrets: 15 in (380 mm)
Hull: 6.25 in (159 mm)

Conventional nickel-steel

Tower: 10 in (250 mm)
8″ turrets: 6 in (150 mm)
Deck: 4.5 in (110 mm)

Warship Wednesday Feb 29

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steampunk navies of the 1880s-1930s and will profile a different ship each week.

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Feb 29

USS TEXAS 1895

Here we have the USS Texas was a second-class pre-dreadnought battleship built by the United States in the early 1890s. She was the first American battleship and the first ship named in honor of the state of Texas to be built by the United States.She was built in reaction to the acquisition of armored warships by several South American countries.Texas was authorized by the U.S. Congress on 3 August 1886.

During the Spanish American War On 3 July, 1898, she was steaming off Santiago de Cuba when the Spanish Fleet under Admiral Cervera attempted to escape past the American Fleet. Texas took four of the enemy ships under fire immediately. While the battleship’s main battery pounded the armored cruisers Vizcaya and Cristobal Colon, her secondary battery joined Iowa, Gloucester, and Indiana in battering two torpedo-boat destroyers.

Decommissioned and used as a station ship she was sunk in shallow water in Tangier Sound in Chesapeake Bay on 21–22 March 1911 by gunfire from the battleship New Hampshire. Her hulk remained visible and was used by entire generations of ships and aircraft for target practice as late as 1959

Displacement:     6,316 long tons (6,417 t) full load (1896)
Length:     308 ft 10 in (94.1 m)
Beam:     64 ft 1 in (19.5 m)
Draft:     24 ft 6 in (7.5 m)
Installed power:     8,610 ihp (6,420 kW)
Propulsion:

2 × vertical triple-expansion steam engines
2 × screws, 4 × boilers

Speed:     17.8 knots (33.0 km/h; 20.5 mph)
Complement:     392 officers and men (1896)
Armament:

2 × 1 – 12 in (305 mm) guns
6 × 1 – 6 in (152 mm) guns
12 × 1 – 57 mm (2.2 in) QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss guns
4 × 1 – 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss 5-barrel revolving guns
6 × 1 – Driggs-Schroeder guns
4 × 1 – 14 in (360 mm) torpedo tubes

Armor:

Belt: 12 in (305 mm)
Deck: 1–3 in (25–76 mm)
Redoubt: 12 in (305 mm)
Turrets: 1–3 in (25–76 mm)
Conning Tower: 9 in (229 mm)
Bulkheads: 8 in (203 mm)

Warship Wednesday, Feb 22

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steampunk navies of the 1880s-1930s and will profile a different ship each week. – Christopher Eger

Here we have the Tsar’s mighty battleship, HMRS Navarin (Наварин – after the battle of Navarino) was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy.

Based on the British Trafalgar-class battleship, she was built by the Galerniy Yard, St. Petersburg, laid down in 1889, launched on 20 October 1891, and completed in 1896.

Design
Type:     Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:     10,206 long tons (10,370 t)
Length:     109 m (357 ft 7 in)
Beam:     20.42 m (67 ft 0 in)
Draught:     8.5 m (27 ft 11 in)
Propulsion:     2 shaft reciprocating vertical triple expansion (VTE) engines
12 cylindrical coal-fired boilers
9,140 shp (6,820 kW)
700 tons coal
Speed:     15.5 knots (17.8 mph; 28.7 km/h)
Complement:     622
Armament:     4 × 305 mm (12 in) guns (2×2)
8 × 152 mm (6 in) guns(1×8)
8 × 47 mm (1.9 in) guns
15 × 37 mm (1.5 in) guns
6 × 381 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:     Compound armor
Belt: 16 in (410 mm)
Citadel: 5 in (130 mm)
Turrets: 12 in (300 mm) (nickel steel)
Conning tower: 10 in (250 mm)

The ships hull had 93 frames and six main compartments, nine watertight bulkheads and a double bottom. The compound armor belt was 69.5 m long and 2.13m tall and had a maximum thickness of 406 mm (16 inches). A casemate belt or upper belt 49.3 m long and 2.4 m tall had a maximum thickness of 305 mm. The turrets also had 305mm armor with 50.2 mm roofs.

The armament consisted of 4 – 305mm/35 caliber guns manufactured at the Obukhov factory in St. Petersburg. The secondary armament was twelve 152mm guns also made by Obukhov. 47mm and 37mm guns comprised the anti-torpedo boat armament. Six 381mm (15 inch) torpedo tubes were also fitted one in the bow, four on the beam and one at the stern.

The powerplant comprised 2 shaft triple expansion steam engines with 12 cylindrical coal-fired boilers operating at 14.6 atmospheres. The boilers were grouped in four boiler rooms each with its own funnel leading to a distinctive outline. This peculiar funnel arrangement led British Sailors to nickname the ship Lots Road Power Station while she was serving in China. There were four electrical generators. The powerplant weighed 1222 tons.

Service history

The ship was launched on the 64th anniversary of the battle of Navarino. The ship served as part of the Baltic fleet making a cruise to the Mediterranean Sea in 1896. The Navarin went to the Pacific in 1898 and took part in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. She then served in the Baltic Fleet from 1902. On the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war, she was sent out with the Second Pacific Squadron. She was sunk at the Battle of Tsushima by three torpedoes fired by Japanese destroyers. Only three sailors were rescued after four days in the water.

Warship Wednesday, Feb 15

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steampunk navies of the 1880s-1930s and will profile a different ship each week.

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Feb 15

Here we have the Italian Battleship Roma

She was a Regina Elena-class warship. The Regina Elena class battleship was a class of battleships built for the Italian Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) between 1904 and 1911.They were considered to be the fastest pre-dreadnought battleships in any navy at that time. Designed by Vittorio Cuniberti, they saw service during the Italo-Turkish War with the Ottoman Empire in 1911-1912 and in World War I, in which Italy participated from 1915 to 1918.They were laid up in the 1920s.

Name:     Roma
Namesake:     Rome
Operator:     Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy)
Builder:     La Spezia Naval Shipyard
Laid down:     20 September 1903
Launched:     21 April 1907
Completed:     17 December 1908
Struck:     1 September 1927
Fate:     Discarded 1932 and scrapped
Notes:     Served as harbor training ship 1927-1932
General characteristics
Type:     Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:     12,550–12,658 long tons (12,751–12,861 t) normal
13,771–13,914 long tons (13,992–14,137 t) full load
Length:     474 ft 5 in (144.6 m)
Beam:     73 ft 6 in (22.4 m)
Draft:     28 ft 1.5 in (8.6 m) (maximum)
Installed power:     19,299–21,968 ihp (14,391–16,382 kW)
Propulsion:     2 shafts, vertical triple expansion steam engines, 28 boilers
Speed:     20.8–22.15 knots (38.5–41.02 km/h; 23.9–25.49 mph)
Range:     5,000–10,000 nautical miles (9,260–18,520 km; 5,754–11,508 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:     557
Armament:     2 × 1 – 12-inch (305 mm)/40 guns
6 × 2 – 8-inch (203 mm)/45 guns
16 or 24 × 1 – 3-inch (76 mm)/40 guns
2 × 1 – 17.7-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:     Belt and side: 9.8 in (249 mm)
Deck: 1.5 in (38.1 mm)
Turrets: 8 in (203 mm)
Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm)

 

Warship Wednesday Feb 8

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steampunk navies of the 1880s-1930s and will profile a different ship each week.

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Feb 8

Here we have the specular side view of the Argentine Cruiser General Garibaldi.

Dimensions: 366’6″ OA x 61’6″ x 24′ LWL: 357′. Displacement: 7,698 tons standard. Armament: (4) 8″ (2×2), (14) 6″ (152mm), (10) 3.2″ QF guns, (6) 1.85″ guns; (2) Maxim MG; (4) 18″ torpedo tubes. Armor: Terni type. Belt: 150/70mm (5.9″/2.76″). Barbettes 5.9″/3.94″. Casemates 5.2″/4.3″. Conning tower: 5.5″. Deck: 1.5″/1″. Athwartship and longitudinal screens in battery: 2″. Fuel capacity: 650 tons std; 1,200 tons maximum. Propulsion: (2) inverted vertical triple-expansion engines developing 13,500 HP, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 20 knots. Range: 5,500 nm. @ 10 kts. Crew: 600. Cost: ~£600,000 at 1895 valuation.

Built in 1895 for Italy  this ship sank the Turkish ironclad Avnilla and several gunboats at Beirut during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12. She was then sold on the eve of World War two approching her 20th birthday as obsolete to the navy of Argentina. There she continued to serve for another 20 years until being stricken in 1934 during the height of the Great Depression and sold for scrap.

 

Warship Wednesday, Feb 1

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steampunk navies of the 1880s-1930s and will profile a different ship each week.

– Christopher Eger

Here we have the Charles Martel class battleship (1883)

Charles Martel Battleship. of the French navy   Photographs and history of the French battleship of the 1890’s, Charles Martel was built at Brest and laid down in April 1891, and launched August 1893, completed June 1897.

Displacement: 11,693 tons, Speed: 18 knots.  Crew 644.  Armament: Two 12 inch / 45 cal. M1887  guns, Two 10.8 inch /45 calibre M1887  guns. and Eight 5.5 inch / 45 caliber guns QF M1888.  Four 9 pounder, and twelve (increased later two 16) 3 pounder.  Eight 1 pounder revolvers.   Two 18 inch torpedo Tubes (submerged.) did have two at AW but these were removed,.)
Scrapped sometime after 1922.

Warship Wednesday, Jan 26

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steampunk navies of the 1880s-1930s and will profile a different ship each week.

– Christopher Eger

Here we have The French barbette ironclad Cruiser Hoche.


Known in the fleet as the “Grand Hotel”
Ship’s specifications:

Dimensions: 347’6″ OA x 65’5″ x 29’3″   Displacement: 10,900 tons. Armament: (2) 13.4″/28 cal. M1881 BLR, (2) 10.8″/28 M1881 BLR, (8) 5.4″/45 M1888 QF, and (16) 47 mm guns; (4) 15″ TT. Armor: Compound type. 17¾”/15″ belt, 16″ turrets and barbettes; 16″ conn; entire bow and ram reinforced with 3″ armor. Fuel capacity: 670 tons of coal. Propulsion: 2-cyl. compound steam engines developing 10,600 hp, shafted to twin screw; 16 knots. Re-engined 1899 with 4 sets 3-cyl. vertical compound steam engines developing 12,000 hp, and 18 Belleville boilers; made 15.9 kts on trials. Crew: 611.

French yards began construction on four large ironclads in 1881. In keeping with French practice, the ships were built in separate yards and important variations in design and appearance were tolerated, although they were built to broadly similar specs. Three of the ships — Marceau, Neptune, and Magenta — thus could be considered a single class. The fourth ship — the Hoche — was so extensively modified during construction that she became a virtual “one-off.” With her wing guns replaced by 10.8″ weapons and her towering superstructure, she was known in the French Navy as “the Grand Hotel” for her elaborate balconies and catwalks and exceptionally poor seakeeping qualities.

In 1892, while cruising off Marseilles, she collided with the passenger steamer Maréchal Canrobert. The steamer sank like a stone, taking with her 107 passengers and crew.

Like most of her generation, Hoche survived into the early part of the Dreadnought Era. She was designated as a target and sunk by the Jauréguiberry and the armored cruiser Pothuau on December 2, 1913.

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