HMS Rattler (1845)
| Rattler | ||
|---|---|---|
|
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| Ship data | ||
| Ship type : | Steam frigate | |
| Builder: | Sheerness Dockyard | |
| Owner: | British Admiralty | |
| Technical specifications | ||
| Volume: | 900 GRT | |
| Load capacity: | approx? t | |
| Length over all: | 56.00 m | |
| Length between perpendiculars: | ? m | |
| Width over everything: | 9.97 m | |
| Side height: | ? m | |
| Draft : | 5.68 m | |
| Propulsion system | ||
| Drive: | 1 × steam engine on 1 screw propeller | |
| Machine power: | about 200 hp | |
| Top speed: | about 10 kn | |
| Others | ||
| Rigging: | 3 masts | |
| Whereabouts: | Canceled in 1856 | |
The steam frigate HMS Rattler was the British Admiralty's first screw steamboat and won a historic competition against the paddle steam frigate HMS Alecto in 1845 .
history
The Rattler was built in 1843 as a test ship for the British Admiralty as a test ship for the British Admiralty to test the performance of the ship's propeller due to the support of Prince Albert , Queen Victoria's husband , by the Sheerness Dockyard shipyard according to plans by the engineer Francis Pettit Smith . On April 3, 1845, she entered a competition against the Alecto paddle steam frigate , which was completed at the end of 1839 , to find out which ship propulsion was the more powerful. First, both ships competed against each other in the North Sea , including on a windless day over 100 nautical miles, from which the Rattler emerged as the clear winner. Afterwards, both steam frigates were tied together stern to stern in order to pull against each other with full force after a signal. Here, too, the Rattler was the clear winner, because she towed the Alecto at around 2.5 knots over its stern in their direction.
In retrospect, however, this competition turned out to be a highly publicized advertising event for the new propulsion technology, as the British Admiralty already knew about the superiority of the new propulsion system and further propeller-driven ships had already been ordered. In the same year, the findings from the experiments with the Rattler were used in the construction of the screw steamer Dwarf .
The Rattler served for the Royal Navy until 1856 when it was canceled.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Alecto at miramarshipindex (viewed on May 27, 2009) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. English
literature
- Alfred Dudszus, Alfred Köpcke: The big book of ship types . Weltbild Verlag (licensed edition by transpress, Berlin), Augsburg 1995, p. 28, ISBN 3-89350-831-7
Web links
- Page with the contest (English)
- Detailed description of the competition (English), pdf (2.46 MB)