"In 'Engineering', vol. i. page 290, we gave a cross section of the hull and turrets of the Dictator, one of the largest of the American monitors. Mr. Fairbairn's work on Iron Shipbuilding contains very clear longitudinal sections of one of the light-draught monitors, the Nauset (sic), which, with an elevation of the two-turret monitor, Chickasaw, we engrave, by Mr. Fairbairn's permission, and which will better serve to convey an idea of the structure and internal arrangements of these craft than any amount of description. The cross section is very much like that given of the Dictator, except that the floor of the Nauset is flat, and the timber backing of the side armour comes down to the bottom, forming a rounded bilge. The Nauset was built by Mr. Donald McKay, of Boston, U.S. She is 223 ft. long, 44 ft. 3 in. beam over all, and only 8 ft. 6 in. deep from the top of the deck amidships. The hull is of iron surrounded with hard timber balks 5 ft. thick alongside the boilers and engines, and 3 ft. 8 in. thick amidships. The deck itself is well rounded, and formed entirely of large balks. The turret is 10 in. thick; its sides, being formed of ten thicknesses of 1 in. plates and three or four plates of iron, making up a thickness of 3 ½ in., are carried around the hull, rising 15 in. above and falling 20 in. below the water-line. The ventilating pipes which supply air to the interior of the ship by means of the fan, are shown in the space between the skin of the ship and the timber covering, these pipes being placed well below the water-line. Valves are placed all along these lines of pipes to let in fresh air into each compartment. Such a vessel could not, from its light draught and want of stowage room for coal, be expected to go to sea, but it would no doubt prove a formidable harbour defense, mounting, as it does, two heavy guns. |