3-021-173 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

H.M.S. Wyvern, double-turreted iron-clad steam-ram, 1865. One of two steam-rams '...built by Mr. Laird, at Birkenhead, for the service presumably of the Confederate States in the American war...[subsequently purchased] by her Majesty's Government to prevent any further litigation,...converted...[and] added to the British Fleet...Internally the ship is divided into water-tight compartments, so as to inclose each of her turrets, her engines, her boilers - all her vital parts, in fact - in separate compartments. There are six of these main athwartship compartments in the main body of the ship, besides smaller ones in the bow and stem. In addition to this provision for the ship's security, in the event of damage to her bottom, the Wyvern has a double side and double bottom, inclosing her turrets, engines, and boilers...The Wyvern carries two turrets, both fitted with carriages and ports for two 12-ton guns...The rig of the ship is on the plan designed by Captain Cowper P. Coles, as a barque, the fore and main masts being tripods and the area of sail on the three masts being unusually large for a ship of the Wyvern's tonnage.' From "Illustrated London News", 1865.