IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS OF WAR
Year: 1886

page_text: I, Sir EDWARD JAMES REED, Knight Commander of the Bath, Member of
Parliament, of Broadway Chambers, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex,
Naval Constructor, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS
IN SHIPS OF WAR to be as follows :—
Heretofore vessels of war which have been constructed with special defence
against the fire of guns for the purpose of protecting the engines, boilers, magazines,
and the lower parts of the vessel, have been built either with thick-plate decks
nearly level, extending from side to side of the ship, in combination with solid side
armour (with or without transverse armour bulkheads, as the case may have been),
or else with thick-plate decks alone, side armour in this case being dispensed with.
In the former case it has been usual to place the thick-plate deck at the height
of the upper edge of the side armour, and to back or support the side armour by
means of timber or other backing. When the ship has been formed of iron or
steel, and has not been of the monitor type or built with overhanging sides, a
watertight recess has been constructed in the ship's side to receive the armour and
backing.
In the latter case-that of vessels formed with thick-plate decks alone, which
have come to be called "Protected Vessels "-the decks have been placed at or
near the water's surface, and it has been necessary, in order to prevent the enemy's
shot or shell from entering below the thick deck, either to curve or to slope the
deck considerably downwards to the ship's sides, so that its junction with the side
shall be situated a few (about 4 or 5) feet below the water's surface.
This latter system has the grave disadvantage of leaving the ship's side in the
region of the water line exposed to injury from any and every size of naval guns,
and to the consequent danger (especially from raking shot and shell driven along
the curved or sloped deck) of taking in water in such manner as gradually but
certainly to capsize the ship.
The object of my Invention is to give to fast cruisers and other like war vessels
all the protection which the thick curved or sloped decks give to these so called
"Protected Vessels," and at the same time to extend a like measure of protection
to the ship itself, by preserving its floating power in the region of the water line

page_text: . unimpaired by the attacks of any guns which cannot penetrate the curved or
Bloped decks adverted to.
This object I accomplish by extending the thick and nearly level deck (situated
a foot or two, or thereabouts, above the water line) entirely across the ship, and
by doubling or otherwise thickening the side plating immediately below it
sufficiently to bring it up to a resisting power, as against shot or shell, equal to
that which the ordinary sloped or curved side would possess.
And my Invention therefore consists in combining with a protective deck
(situated above the water line) thickened side plating immediately below it, which
thickened side plating is to extend downwards from the said deck as far below
water as may be deemed necessary, and may be composed of one, two, or more
thicknesses, and may be partly of iron faced with steel or of any other suitable
material. By this means I do away with the construction of a costly armour
recess,
I reserve to myself the right of placing between these plates, where two or more
are employed, any material suitable for preserving the plates, and for deadening
the shock of shot upon them.

page_text: Improvements in Ships of War.
I Sir EDWARD JAMES REED, Knight Commander of the Bath, Member of
Parliament, of Broadway Chambers, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex,
Naval Constructor do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS
IN SHIPS OF WAR and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Heretofore vessels of war which have been constructed with special defence
against the fire of guns for the purpose of protecting the engines, boilers,
magazines, & the lower parts of the vessel, have been built either with thick-plate
decks nearly level extending from side to side of the ship in combination with
solid side armour (with or without transverse armour bulkheads, as the case may
have been) or else with thick-plate decks alone, side armour in this case being
dispensed with.
In the former case it has been usual to place the thick-plate deck at the height
of the upper edge of the side armour, & to back or support the side armour by
means of timber or other backing. When the ship has been formed of iron or
steel, and has not been of the monitor type or built with overhanging sides a
watertight recess has been constructed in the ship's side to receive the armour and
backing.
In the latter case-that of vessels formed with thick-plate decks alone, which
have come to be called "Protected Vessels "-the decks have been placed at or
near the water's surface, and it has been necessary, in order to prevent the enemy's
shot or shell from entering below the thick deck, either to curve or to slope the
deck considerably downwards to the ship's sides, so that its junction with the side
shall be situated a few (about 4 or 5) feet below the water's surface.
This latter system has the grave disadvantage of leaving the ship's side in the
region of the water line exposed to injury from any and every size of naval guns,
and to the consequent danger (especially from raking shot and shell driven along
the curve or sloped deck) of taking in water in such manner as gradually but
certainly to capsize the ship.
The object of my Invention is to give to fast cruisers and other like war-vessels
all the protection which the thick curved or sloped decks give to these so-called
"Protected Vessels," and at the same time to extend a like measure of protection
to the ship itself, by preserving its floating power in the region of the water line
unimpaired by the attacks of any guns which cannot penetrate the curved or
sloped decks adverted to.
This object I accomplish by extending the thick and nearly level deck (situated
a foot or two, or thereabouts, above the water line) entirely across the ship, and
by doubling or otherwise thickeuing the side plating immediately below it
sufficiently to bring it up to a resisting power, as against shot or shell, equal to
that which the ordinary sloped or curved side would possess.
And my Invention therefore consists in combining with a protective deck
(situated above the water line) thickened side plating immediately below it, which

page_text: thickened side plating is to extend downwards from the said deck as far below
water as may be deemed necessary, and may be composed of one, two, or more
thicknesses, and may be partly of iron faced with steel or any other suitable
material. By this means I do away with the construction of a costly armour
recess.
I reserve to myself the right of placing between these plates, where two or more
are employed, any material suitable for preserving, the plates, and for deadening
the shock of shot upon them.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the method of carrying my invention into
effect.
Figure I is a part section in the region of the water-line of a so-called "protected
vessel;
8 represents the ordinary skin-plating of the ship;; A is the horizontal
deck protected by doubling plating; and A¹ is the sloping portion of the said deck
similarly protected but of additional thickness to compensate for the slope. It will
be observed that the space above the sloping thick deck A¹ and the thin skin-
plating s will be laid open to the sea when the latter is penetrated or burst in by
shot or shell. The effective width of the ship for stability purposes is thus reduced
(if the water be freely admitted) by the distance between the outside plating 8 and
the plated slope A¹ measured at the height of the new water-line, which will be
somewhat higher than that shown in the drawing in consequence of the additional
immersion of the ship due to the injury. Ordinary vessels of war which possess
moderate & proper stability when the side s is intact will possess insufficient
stability when the breadth is contracted as above described, and will ordinarily
capsize.
In so-called "Protected Vessels" attempts are sometimes made by sub-division,
by the use of cork, by the use of coal, or by other like means, to reduce the inflow
of the sea and to prevent the above catastrophe, but it is obvious that an exploding
or raking shell would destroy many compartments at once, & that the cork, coal,
and other like materials could do no more than mitigate to an uncertain extent,
and often to a small extent, the effects of injury, & that security in action even
against the fire of small guns to which the deck and slope would be proof could
not be certainly secured by any such means.
Fig. II illustrates the arrangement which I substite for that before described.
A A again represents the protected deck to which in this case the ordinary
curvature is given, & to which in consequence I give a slight increase of thickness
towards the sides as a compensation for the curvature. (I may obviously place this
deck horizontal like the deck in Fig. I, in which case no additional thickness is
required). It will be seen that I carry the deck completely out to the sides of
the ship, and downwards from the junction of this deck with the side I apply
additional plates C. D as shown bringing bringing up the thickness of the side to
about an equality with the thickness of the sloping deck in Fig. I measured
horizontally, so that for present purposes the two may be roughly regarded as of
equivalent resistance to the horizontal fire of shot & shell. As against depressed
fire the strengthed side in Fig. II will be superior in resistance to the sloping deck
in Fig. I, because with depressed fire the thickness in the direction of the line of fire
will obviously become greater in Fig. II than is the horizontal thickness, while in
the case of the sloping deck in Fig. I the thickness of the slope in the direction of
the line of fire becomes less and less as the depression of the fire is increased. This
very great advantage of the arrangement shown in Fig. II over that shown in
Fig. I is more clearly illustrated in Figures III & IV which are on an enlarged
scale, and in which the line, f, shows the horizontal line of fire, and the line, l. f¹,
shows a line of fire depressed from the horizontal by 7 degrees.
Reverting to Fig. If it will be seen that all the time the thickened plating on
the deck and side remains uninjured by fire the sea cannot be let into the ship
below the level of the protecting deck, and therefore neither the buoyancy nor the
stability can be compromised, as both are in the other case. The vessel illustrated
in Fig. II can be divided into cells above the protected deck A, or stowed there

page_text: with cork, coal, etc, but in this case such accessories will only be necessary for
extending the range of her stability, while in the other case they have to be
depended upon for any stability at all.
It will be obvious that some increase of weight is involved in the system shown
in Fig. II, but the additional weight is so very small a percentage of the total
weight of a fast "Protected Ship," while the object gained is of such primary
importance, namely the protection of the vessel from being readily capsized by an
enemy's fire, that the advantage of the new system is out of all proportion to the
cost involved.
I am aware that side plating made up of numerous thicknesses, and employed in
combination with a strong plated deck, has in some cases been resorted to, but in
all such cases the laminated side-plating has been employed as a substitute for
solid side-armour in armour-plated ships, and generally arose in the early days of
armour plating from the want of means of producing solid plating. The object
which I have in view in this invention, & the means by which I carry it out, are
wholly different, having no application to what are at present known or have
heretofore been known as armoured ships. My invention applies to what are
known as "Protected Vessels," and it essentially consists in substituting the
arrangement shown in Fig. II for that shown in Fig. I, and for others essentially
similar thereto. It will be understood that there is an essential difference between
the arrangement shewn in Fig. II and that employed in any ship yet existing in
Her Majesty's Navy, that difference consisting in the fact that in the present case
the ordinary side plating of the vessel-in lieu of being protected with armour &
backing as hitherto practised-is doubled & thickened, as shown, for the purpose
of extending between wind & water that protection which is afforded by the
horizontal & sloping decks of "Protected Ships."
Having now particularly described & ascertained the nature of my said
invention, & in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
The combination in Vessels of War of a protective deck situated above the water
line, with thickened side plating immediately below the said deck, in the manner
& for the purpose herein before described and illustrated in the drawings hereunto
annexed.