Saturday, April 18, 2009

Ranges

Old Brassey's have tables of ship data that include the range at 10 knots with a full coal bunker. I was amazed to see that the old broadside British ironclads from the 1860's had short ranges. The Warrior had a nominal range of just 1210 nautical miles. Clearly, the ships must have had a way to extend their range to cross the Atlantic. The either sailed in company with colliers and were able to transfer coal at sea or else would overload the ships with coal. The turret ship Neptune, purchased in 1878, only had a range 0f 1480 nautical miles. The ship had been built for Brazil, so that would account for the lack of range, but it made for a ship that had limited uses for the Royal Navy.

No comments: