Transom
The term stern mirror (mostly just mirror ) describes a surface that is clearly separated from the sides and bottom as the rear end of a boat or ship ( stern ). This can be flat or curved and is usually above the water line.
history
Until almost the 16th century, the stern of ships was built in an approximately round shape - almost like the bow of the ship. But as early as the middle of the 13th century, shipbuilders were constructing a stern fort over the round stern to protect the crews from enemy attacks. Little was changed in this design until the beginning of the 16th century, except that the stern fort and the so-called stern beam, which supported the construction, became larger and larger. Although the round stern was indispensable in the Mediterranean region into the 18th century, Mediterranean seafaring nations such as Spain and Portugal brought out the first ships with the flat transom. There is evidence that this shape of the stern was developed to allow cannons to be installed deep down near the waterline that could be used against shallow galleys . At that time galleys had heavy cannons on the bow, with which they were able to shoot heavy projectiles at waterline height against the enemy due to their flat design. The previous round stern on ships of old construction made it almost impossible to use cannons effectively against these galleys, as these could not be installed deep enough - especially since the cannons at that time had no pivot pins or were lowerable and could therefore only be aligned with difficulty. The flat stern mirror was also favored by the fact that the stern fort could thus be integrated into the aft hull and thus be more solidly constructed.
The rear end above the transom (inside and not visible from the outside) was previously referred to as the transom - at that time, however, it was recently designed to be rounded downwards on the stern and then referred to this area as the under mirror (Arcasse), which was partly could lie in the water.
Above the stern beam, which was attached to the stern post, further transverse beams were now inserted into the ship: the so-called transom and the gill beams, which together supported the upper transom. The outer corner connections between these beams were the randsomwoods, which were crowned by the chopping board and thus to a certain extent framed the mirror. Until the 17th century, the under-mirror designs were laid out very flat. This construction variant was practiced until the 19th century, although the lower level was significantly reduced and also built so that it was completely above the waterline. However, English shipbuilders began to develop new stern shapes in the middle of the 17th century. Below the transom the ship was rounded again, so that in fact a round stern was built again; while above everything stayed the same. This design was later adopted by many shipbuilders outside of England, so that it ultimately prevailed. From the 19th century onwards, the stern was finally narrowed so that it had a flat round stern above the waterline.
Over the centuries, the transom provided space for numerous decorations and ornaments from merchant and warships of the time, which were intended to emphasize the specialty of the ship or the respective nation. In the late 16th century, these decorations first appeared on Italian and Spanish ships, which evidently generated so much enthusiasm that they were quickly adopted by other seafaring nations. Sometimes heavy oak-carved and elaborately decorated, sometimes gilded saints, ancient gods, putti, emblems , coats of arms , balustrades, garlands, sea monsters, as well as galleries and side galleries were attached to the transom or in the periphery at the expense of the armament and protection of the aft ship.
In some cases, especially during the Baroque period , these decorations were exaggerated to such an extent that the ships were extremely stern-heavy and thus their sailing ability and maneuverability were severely restricted. Allegedly, captains had the decorations knocked off after sailing in order to make the ship seaworthy again.
In addition, the transom was seldom made in the fixed construction of the ship's hull, which made it the greatest weak point in a sea battle: enemy ships could cause considerable damage deep inside the ship with their cannons by bombarding the transom. In the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the British ship of the line HMS Victory shot the French flagship Bucentaure a single broadside in the transom. This bombardment decimated the French by 400 crew members and destroyed 20 cannons. If the ammunition bunker / magazine were in an unfavorable position, a well-placed hit could even cause the entire ship to explode.
From 1815 onwards, thanks to Sir Robert Seppings , the Surveyor of the Royal Navy , innovations were introduced in England that led warship construction back towards the round stern. In addition to greater robustness, this stern type offered the additional advantage that the aft cannons could also be aligned at an angle of 45 ° to the keel line. This construction method then became more and more popular with warships, especially since there were no more galleys to fight: the conduct of war had changed over the years.
Even French shipbuilders who attempted to adopt the transom construction method up until the first half of the 19th century finally had to bow to the realization around 1840 that armament and strength at the stern are essential, which is why they gave up the ornate transom and warships again constructed with a round tail. From around 1850, this type of construction spread to civil shipping.
Even today, many ships are built with a mirror. Parts such as bathing ladders, bathing platforms or equipment racks are often installed here on yachts. On large cargo ships, a transom stern makes better use of the space compared to a round stern, and the construction is also less complex.
literature
- Frank Howard: Sailing Warships 1400-1860 . Bernard & Graefe, 2nd edition 1989.
- Wolfram zu Mondfeld: Historical ship models (special edition). Orbis Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-572-01464-6 .
- Klaus Krick: self-built historical ship models . Neckar-Verlag, Villingen-Schwenningen 2003, ISBN 3-7883-3136-4 .
- Scott Robertsen: Basic knowledge of ship model building . vth-Verlag, Baden-Baden, ISBN 3-88180-733-0 .