Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Evolution of the Turret Ship HMS Captain
AssociatedAssociated with
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
(Frogmore House, Windsor, England, 1900 - 1979)
Medallist
John Pinches, Medallists
DateMay 2004
Object NameMedal
MediumSterling Silver
ClassificationsMedals
AcquisitionPresented in 2004 by Dr Joan M Burrell.
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDMS072500.65
Keywords
The experience of the French at Kinburn in 1855 inspired three outstanding naval architects to design ships in which centrally mounted revolving turrets housed huge guns. They were Dupuy de Lome in France, Captain Cowper Coles in England and John Ericsson in America. The experience of the latter in the American Civil War in 1862 hastened the process. After the frigate Merrimac (renamed Virginia) had been armoured by the Confederate States and a casemate fitted on deck to house a big gun, the North allowed Ericsson to design the Monitor with two 11-inch guns in a turret mounted on such a low freeboard (2 feet) that she looked like a cheesebox on a raft. After defeating her rival in Hampton Roads, the Monitor sank when she reached the open sea.
In England the head of the Naval Construction department, Sir Edward Reed, designed the first turret ship, HMS Monarch, in 1868, mounting four 25 ton 12-inch guns in two turrets. HMS Captain was launched in 1869, but Coles was unable to supervise her construction. In the process of this, a flying deck from which to work a full set of sails (on which the Admiralty insisted) was built, increasing her displacement from 6,963 to 7,767 tons and reducing her freeboard from 8 Y2 feet to 6 Y2 feet. Reed protested and resigned, but Coles went to sea in her. In a storm off Cape Finisterre on 6th September, 1870 she capsized with the loss of 472 men, including her designer. The Captain was 320 feet long, 58 feet in the beam, with a 4-inch to 8-inch belt of armour.
Her loss was the greatest suffered by the Victorian navy, but the principle of the turret ship was now generally accepted. Had it not been that she was over-rigged for a ship with such low freeboard, the Captain might have been the first modern battleship. A hard lesson had been learned, but the development of the central battery ship continued as bigger and better guns were invented.
The Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea, John Pinches Medallists Ltd.
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Oceanic Pioneer Transatlantic Liner
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
May 2004
