3-052-476 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

H.M.S Nelson, double screw, ironclad, 1880. 'This new ship, armour-plated, with double screw-propellers, is of 7323 tons burden, with engines of 6000-horse power, and carries twelve heavy guns...[She] is designed to cruise either under steam or sail, or both combined...An important peculiarity in the ships of this type is that the steering-gear and tillers are well under water below the armour-deck, thereby securing an efficient protection to a vital part. The machinery of the Nelson consists of a pair of compound vertical engines, designed by Mr. A. C. Kirk, and manufactured by Messrs. Elder and Co., of Glasgow, by whom also the ship was constructed...The machinery cost, according to the Navy Estimates for last year, £83,530. The two propellers are of the Mangin type, which would offer less resistance when the ship was under sail than the ordinary four-bladed Griffith. Each propeller has a diameter of 17 ft. 10 in., and a mean pitch of 19 ft. 6? in. In the trial-trips, the full speed was fourteen knots an hour, with 82 revolutions of the engines per minute; the indicated horse-power was 6624. With only one of the engines going, a speed of ten and a half knots was obtained'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.