3-028-214 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Deck plan of H.M. Ship Devastation, 1871. 'The new ironclad ship...is the first of her class yet constructed, a seagoing monitor, carrying 35-ton guns, and protected by thicknesses of 14-in., 12-in., and 10-in. armour-plate. She has no masts or sails. She was designed by Mr. E. J. Reed, C.B., the late Chief Constructor of the Navy. She is not intended for long cruises at sea, but as a most powerful fighting ship, able to carry a large quantity of coals, and to make very long voyages. The hull is 285 ft. in length...The outer skin of the hull has been built of iron plating, subjected to most severe tests. The longitudinals and vertical keel in the double bottom, which extends four fifths of the length of the hull, are built of Bessemer steel...The hull is...covered in with 3 in. of iron plating riveted down upon the rolled iron beams, with two thicknesses of teak planking over all'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.