Battleships? - I have a question
Battleships? - I have a question
Before about 1900, most battleships were equipped with inclined ramps for their bow-anchors, often two, each side. The anchor-chains ran forward to the hawser-pipes and appear, upon weighing anchor, to have been lifted back to their ramps by way of fat and strong davits.Can anyone enlighten me on what this system for dropping anchors was called, in particular the angled ramps - and what advantage there was over using the hawserpipes for stowing the anchors? Which became the norm after about 1900?
Varjag.
You picqued my curiosity, and seeing as warships are not my field of interest and all this was a bit before my time, I had to resort to a book or two.
The operation of raising the anchor onto the deck of the ship was known as catting the anchor, and those thick radial davits were used just as you describe.
The inclined ramp was known as the anchor bed, and as you have observed it was cut into the sheerline, or at deck level.
The anchor would likely be "let go" by some patented quick-release mechanism, but I am unable to say what term the RN used to describe this operation.
The anchors on these pre-dreadnoughts was most likely Inglefields patent, as I see from an illustration of HMS Inflexible. This anchor had a stock, necessitating its stowage on deck.
It was a short step from the close-stowing to the stockless anchor, which had the advantages of making anchor beds unnecessary; simplifying the weighing and letting go of the anchor, and allowing the stockless shank to be drawn up into the hawsepipe, all snug and secure.
Stockless anchors are still used today, with a variety of types of flukes.
Hope that helps.
You picqued my curiosity, and seeing as warships are not my field of interest and all this was a bit before my time, I had to resort to a book or two.
The operation of raising the anchor onto the deck of the ship was known as catting the anchor, and those thick radial davits were used just as you describe.
The inclined ramp was known as the anchor bed, and as you have observed it was cut into the sheerline, or at deck level.
The anchor would likely be "let go" by some patented quick-release mechanism, but I am unable to say what term the RN used to describe this operation.
The anchors on these pre-dreadnoughts was most likely Inglefields patent, as I see from an illustration of HMS Inflexible. This anchor had a stock, necessitating its stowage on deck.
It was a short step from the close-stowing to the stockless anchor, which had the advantages of making anchor beds unnecessary; simplifying the weighing and letting go of the anchor, and allowing the stockless shank to be drawn up into the hawsepipe, all snug and secure.
Stockless anchors are still used today, with a variety of types of flukes.
Hope that helps.
Thanks Lobscouse, very much - I thought I was crying in the wilderness. Great - now I have added anchorbeds to my vocabulary. Have been wondering for long about this odd way of dropping anchor. At one stage thought it may have been conservatism (for which admirals are famous) as the old stock-anchors were usually secured in a similar location in the days of sail. Then wondered if the underwater shape of the,then popular, ram-bows threatened hull-damage under the hawse-pipes if dropped from there - unlikely - as a similar situation would appear to exist under the ANCHORBEDS. Then again, perhaps the frequent mooring to buoys in that time, made unshackling the anchorchain and connecting it to the mooring-buoy - easier.The recovery operation, from a seamans p.o.v. appears to be laborious in the extreme - but then admirals had hundreds of 'tars' to to satisfy their whims,even at the expense of clipped fingers and crushed hands - which anyone that been in contact with anchor-chains will understand.