2-982-072 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Our Ironclad Fleet: H.M.S. Temeraire, launched at Chatham on Tuesday last, 1876. 'Her maindeck guns will be broadside, but she will have on her upper deck a "barbette" battery...She will carry eight guns, three of 25 and five of 18 tons. Her armour-plating will be 11 in. of maximum thickness, the plates having been furnished from Sir John Brown's works at Sheffield...the "barbette," or low, fixed turret, is mounted on the upper deck, and forms a screen seven feet deep. Inside is a turn-table for the gun, which stands exposed above this screen; but protection of a partial nature is afforded by the turrets to the gunners and the ammunition. In action, a slight protection is given to the gun by means of a light framework or mask of iron...This moves with the turn-table, and consequently with the gun. The gun is, therefore, uniformly directed to the aperture made for firing in this screen...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.