The cruiser Marathon (1888)

This is a photograph of the British 3rd Class Protected Cruiser Marathon. The Marathon was armed with 6-6in/25 guns. These were originally BL guns, not QF. The Marathon was nominally a 2,950 ton ship with a 2in protective deck. This photograph dates sometime prior to 1904. The ship much must be painted for tropical service.

There is also this nice photograph of a sister ship, the Magicienne.

Mersey class photographs

This page has an interesting selection of photographs of British cruisers. They even have some good photographs of Mersey class cruisers. This is the Forth from before 1896.

British ships painted gray in 1903

I have some Symonds photographs that show definitively that the British navy was painting ships gray in 1903, prior to Admiral Fisher becoming First Sea Lord. The pictures that I have show the 1st Class Cruiser Spartiate, the fast armoured cruiser Good Hope, the battleship Mars with funnel stripes, and the battleship Russell. In the set, there is also a fascinating photograph of the old cruiser Mersey, launched in 1885. That ship is still painted up in the Victorian livery.

The battleship USS Louisiana

I have a good photograph of the pre-dreadnought battleship USS Louisiana. The photograph was taken in 1911, after the Louisiana was modernized with cage masts and painted gray:

I tried a Springsharp design, as well, to see how well Springsharp handled this sort of ship. I found that Springsharp assumed machinery that was too heavy. I had to lighten the machinery to obtain a satisfactory design (Springhsharp reports don't work well with this blog template):

USS Louisiana, United States Battleship laid down 1906 (Engine 1909)

Displacement:
 13,558 t light; 14,464 t standard; 16,167 t normal; 17,529 t full load

Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)
 (459.00 ft / 450.00 ft) x 76.83 ft x (24.50 / 26.27 ft)
 (139.90 m / 137.16 m) x 23.42 m  x (7.47 / 8.01 m)

Armament:
      4 - 12.00" / 305 mm 45.0 cal guns - 850.00lbs / 385.55kg shells, 120 per gun
   Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1906 Model
   2 x Twin mounts on centreline ends, evenly spread
      8 - 8.00" / 203 mm 45.0 cal guns - 250.00lbs / 113.40kg shells, 150 per gun
   Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1906 Model
   4 x Twin mounts on sides amidships
      12 - 7.00" / 178 mm 45.0 cal guns - 165.00lbs / 74.84kg shells, 150 per gun
   Breech loading guns in casemate mounts, 1906 Model
   12 x Single mounts on sides amidships
  12 hull mounts in casemates- Limited use in heavy seas
      20 - 3.00" / 76.2 mm 50.0 cal guns - 14.29lbs / 6.48kg shells, 150 per gun
   Quick firing guns in casemate mounts, 1906 Model
   20 x Single mounts on sides amidships
  6 hull mounts in casemates- Limited use in heavy seas
      Weight of broadside 7,666 lbs / 3,477 kg

Armour:
   - Belts:  Width (max) Length (avg)  Height (avg)
 Main: 11.0" / 279 mm 250.00 ft / 76.20 m 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
 Ends: 7.00" / 178 mm 200.00 ft / 60.96 m 12.00 ft / 3.66 m
 Upper: 6.00" / 152 mm 250.00 ft / 76.20 m 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
   Main Belt covers 85 % of normal length

   - Torpedo Bulkhead:
  2.00" / 51 mm 250.00 ft / 76.20 m 24.50 ft / 7.47 m

   - Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
 Main: 12.0" / 305 mm 8.00" / 203 mm  10.0" / 254 mm
 2nd: 6.00" / 152 mm 6.00" / 152 mm  6.00" / 152 mm
 3rd: 7.00" / 178 mm 7.00" / 178 mm  7.00" / 178 mm
 4th: 4.00" / 102 mm 4.00" / 102 mm  4.00" / 102 mm

   - Protected deck - single deck: 3.00" / 76 mm For and Aft decks
 Forecastle: 3.00" / 76 mm  Quarter deck: 3.00" / 76 mm

   - Conning towers: Forward 9.00" / 229 mm,  Aft 0.00" / 0 mm

Machinery:
 Coal fired boilers, complex reciprocating steam engines, 
 Direct drive, 2 shafts, 14,768 ihp / 11,017 Kw = 18.00 kts
 Range 4,800nm at 14.00 kts
 Bunker at max displacement = 3,065 tons (100% coal)

Complement:
 716 - 931

Cost:
 £1.266 million / $5.065 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
 Armament: 1,448 tons, 9.0 %
 Armour: 6,244 tons, 38.6 %
    - Belts: 2,202 tons, 13.6 %
    - Torpedo bulkhead: 453 tons, 2.8 %
    - Armament: 1,959 tons, 12.1 %
    - Armour Deck: 1,506 tons, 9.3 %
    - Conning Tower: 124 tons, 0.8 %
 Machinery: 1,136 tons, 7.0 %
 Hull, fittings & equipment: 4,731 tons, 29.3 %
 Fuel, ammunition & stores: 2,609 tons, 16.1 %
 Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0.0 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
 Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
   29,601 lbs / 13,427 Kg = 34.3 x 12.0 " / 305 mm shells or 5.3 torpedoes
 Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.27
 Metacentric height 5.2 ft / 1.6 m
 Roll period: 14.2 seconds
 Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 96 %
   - Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.78
 Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.93

Hull form characteristics:
 Hull has a flush deck,
   a ram bow and a cruiser stern
 Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0.668 / 0.675
 Length to Beam Ratio: 5.86 : 1
 'Natural speed' for length: 21.21 kts
 Power going to wave formation at top speed: 45 %
 Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
 Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): -4.00 degrees
 Stern overhang: -3.00 ft / -0.91 m
 Freeboard (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):
    Fore end,  Aft end
    - Forecastle: 20.00 %,  20.00 ft / 6.10 m,  20.00 ft / 6.10 m
    - Forward deck: 30.00 %,  20.00 ft / 6.10 m,  20.00 ft / 6.10 m
    - Aft deck: 35.00 %,  20.00 ft / 6.10 m,  20.00 ft / 6.10 m
    - Quarter deck: 15.00 %,  20.00 ft / 6.10 m,  20.00 ft / 6.10 m
    - Average freeboard:  20.00 ft / 6.10 m
 Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
 Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 81.3 %
  - Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 143.3 %
 Waterplane Area: 26,924 Square feet or 2,501 Square metres
 Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 111 %
 Structure weight / hull surface area: 140 lbs/sq ft or 684 Kg/sq metre
 Hull strength (Relative):
  - Cross-sectional: 0.92
  - Longitudinal: 2.17
  - Overall: 1.00
 Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
 Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
 Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
 Excellent seaboat, comfortable, can fire her guns in the heaviest weather

My latest attempt at a 1903 battleship-cruiser photo

I had some ideas about I needed to do to have a better look to the 1903 battleship-cruiser, so I hacked on the photo and have a new version:

A rare photograph of the battleship Texas, taken in 1899

This rare photograph of the battleship USS Texas was taken in about 1899. The Texas had fought at the Battle of Santiago in 1898. The Texas was at least a second class ship, if not a third class battleship. The Texas carried two 12in guns in single turrets mounted in echelon. There were also 6-6in BLR guns (not QF). On trials, the Texas averaged 17.8 knots.

A photograph a 1903 battleship-cruiser

At Dreadnought Cruisers, I recently posted my design for a 1903 battleship-cruiser that I thought was along the lines of what William Hovgaard had proposed. This is a 24 knot ship with 8-12in/45 and 12-6in QF guns. The armour basis is 10in. This is a photograph of one of the ships: