3-038-972 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Our ironclad fleet: H.M.S. Hotspur, 1871. 'The design of H.M.S. Hotspur, the new armour-clad screw steam-ram, built by Messrs. Robert Napier and Son, at the Govan shipyard on the Clyde, has proved very successful...This war-ship is constructed on a principle which is entirely new in this country, but which was adopted some time ago in connection with the navy of France. Its chief features are the formation of a fixed tower or turret, the breastwork of which is 8 in. thick, and an immense ram forward...This stationary turret is armed with a 30-ton gun, carrying 600 lb. of shot. It is worked on a revolving turn-table...The ram projects about 9 ft. below water, and is brought up to a sharp point at a depth of about 8 ft. below the water-line. There are three decks, the middle one being plated with two thicknesses of iron tapered forward and aft. The engines, which have been made and fitted by Messrs. Napier, are of the direct-acting horizontal description, having two piston-roads to each cylinder, and are fitted with surface-condensers and all the most recent improvements...The propellers are 14 ft. in diameter, on Griffiths's plan, with movable blades. In all, six armour-clads have been built by Messrs. Napier for the British Navy'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.