Development of the armored battleship in the British fleet proceeded on the Collingwood model through the 1880s and early '90s. After the Admiral class came an anomaly to this pattern, the uniquely ugly Victoria class, designed after British ironclad rams of the 1870s, with one twin 16.25" turret forward. The balanced battery returned with the Nile (above) and Trafalgar (below), named to commemorate Admiral Horatio Nelson's most illustrious victories. These ships were similar to the Collingwood breed with low freeboard and two twin 13.5" mountings, but mounted their artillery in armored turrets instead of open-topped barbettes, reflecting the influence of Sir Arthur Hood, who had just taken over as First Sea Lord.
At the same time, Sir William White was easing into the DNC's chair, following the resignation of Nathaniel Barnaby, to whom White had long served as understudy. Reflecting Hood's preoccupations, the two Nile class ships were extremely well protected, with a diamond-shaped redoubt amidships angling out to enclose the turrets, protected with 20"/18"/16" compound iron-and-steel armor. Like the Victoria class, they adopted side-by-side stacks, though with loftier height for improved draft to the furnaces.
Their low freeboard made the Nile class "wet ships" and inhibited efficient operation of the guns in weather. Nor could they maintain full speed when steaming into a chop. Granted many of these vessels were almost permanently stationed in the Mediterranean, where the interference of swells and spray was ordinarily less of a factor than on a deep ocean station. Indeed, one must remember that low-floating vessels were esteemed in the Service at this time because they presented far smaller targets for an opponent than a high-freeboard ship with a higher profile. The Russian Navy esteemed the Nile class so highly that they commissioned a battleship that was a virtual copy of the Nile -- the Navarin -- at a slightly reduced size. Her four chimneys tightly grouped in a square amid a mushroom-field of vents led to Navarin's nickname in the Russian fleet, "The Factory". The well-protected Navarin withstood a hail of Japanese high explosive fire at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, when much newer but less well armored Russian battleships quickly crumpled and burned like a torch. Later that same day Navarin survived three or four torpedoes, but later yet sank after hitting two mines laid in her path by specially-equipped Japanese destroyers. The doughty battleship capsized, taking her entire crew with her, save three who were picked up by a Japanese fishing boat after clinging to floating wreckage for four days.
Specifications for the Nile class:
Dimensions: 345' x 73' x 28'6" Displacement: 12,590 tons. Armament: (4) 13.5" BLR (2x2); (6) 4.7" QF BLR in armored casemates; (8) 6-pdr and (11) 3-pdr guns; (6) MG; (4) 14" torpedo tubes (bow and stern above water, beam tubes submerged). NOTE: 4.7" guns replaced by 6" wire-wound QF BLR in a 1905 modernization. Armor: Compound type. 20" belt, 18" redoubt and turrets, 14" conn, 16" bulkheads, 4" casemates, 3" deck. Fuel capacity: 900 tons of coal standard; maximum 1,200 tons. Propulsion: Coal-fired cylindrical boilers; (2) 3-cyl vertical triple expansion steam engines shafted to twin screw. Maximum speed: 16.5 kts; 17 kts obtained under forced draft. Completion: 1890-91. Crew: 520. Initial cost: £900,000 at 1890 valuation.
Ships in class: Nile · Trafalgar
Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 105.2m x 22.3m x 8.7m Displacement: 12,590 tons. Armament: (4) 343 mm BLR (2x2); (6) 120 mm QF BLR in armored casemates; (8) 6-pdr and (11) 3-pdr guns; (6) MG; (4) 356 mm torpedo tubes (bow and stern above water, beam tubes submerged). NOTE: 120 mm guns replaced by 158 mm wire-wound QF BLR in a 1905 modernization. Armor: Compound type. 508 mm belt, 457 mm redoubt and turrets, 356 mm conn, 408 mm bulkheads, 102 mm casemates, 76 mm deck. Fuel capacity: 900 tons of coal standard; maximum 1,200 tons. Propulsion: Coal-fired cylindrical boilers; (2) 3-cyl vertical triple expansion steam engines shafted to twin screw. Maximum speed: 30.6 km/hr; 31.5 km/hr obtained under forced draft. Completion: 1890-91. Crew: 520. Initial cost: £900,000 at 1890 valuation.
Above and below, the elegant quill of W. Fred Mitchell drew all the schematics used in Brassey's Naval Annual over a period of many decades, overlapping the development of the ironclad and modern battleship. Details are shown of his depiction of the Nile here. You can view the entire plan in real-time and actual size: click here to summon it.
Naval conservatism being legendary, there was decided prejudice in the service against the high-freeboard warships which followed -- the Royal Sovereigns of 1892-4 -- and in favor of the Nile and Hood types. However, the more weatherly character of the ships soon converted the skeptics. More than 50 true pre-dreadnoughts derived from the Sovereigns were built for the Royal Navy between 1891 and 1908, keeping the British comfortably ahead of rivals, both in numbers and quality of design. It was only after the 1906 Dreadnought that Germany's determined challenge would put the fear of God into British naval planners.
When the Nile class was authorized the Admiralty informed Parliament that these would be the last battleships ever built for the Royal Navy. Under the influence of the French jeune école, their lordships had concluded that torpedo-boats and the improved Whitehead torpedo had rendered the battleship obsolete. In fact, the battleship arms race was only then beginning in earnest as the Nile and Trafalgar ran their acceptance trials. Britain would be building battleships almost continuously for another 55 years.
A dockyard view: the Nile's sternribbon and two collapsed Admiralty pattern anchors on deck.
The Nile in a tragic moment stands by the sinking flagship HMS Victoria on June 22, 1893. Uncropped photo
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