for armoured ship Thursday this week we have the armoured rams HMS Wyvern and HMS Scorpion. these vessels were originally built for the Confederate States of America by Lairds of Birkenhead in England. they were to be named CSS Mississippi and CSS North Carolina. the USA caught the Brits in the act and forced them to keep the two ships for their own navy. they were then given the names Wyvern and Scorpion and served in the Royal Navy until 1922 in the case of the Wyvern and 1901 for the Scorpion. it's a good thing for the USN that the Confederates did not get the ships as they outclassed any seagoing ship the USN had except the USS New Ironsides which was so slow she never could have caught the two rams at sea. the Scorpion and Wyvern were 224'6" long with an armour belt of 41/2" thickness. the two Coles turrets were 10" thick on the face and each carried two 9" muzzle loading rifles. the single Lairds engine of 1450ihp drove the little ships at a top speed of 101/2kts. about twice what the New Ironsides could manage. the picture is of Wyvern as i couldn't find one of Scorpion. they were almost exactly alike however so one picture will basically do for both.
for armoured ship Thursday this week we have the armoured rams HMS Wyvern and HMS Scorpion. these vessels were originally built for the Confederate States of America by Lairds of Birkenhead in England. they were to be named CSS Mississippi and CSS North Carolina. the USA caught the Brits in the act and forced them to keep the two ships for their own navy. they were then given the names Wyvern and Scorpion and served in the Royal Navy until 1922 in the case of the Wyvern and 1901 for the Scorpion. it's a good thing for the USN that the Confederates did not get the ships as they outclassed any seagoing ship the USN had except the USS New Ironsides which was so slow she never could have caught the two rams at sea. the Scorpion and Wyvern were 224'6" long with an armour belt of 41/2" thickness. the two Coles turrets were 10" thick on the face and each carried two 9" muzzle loading rifles. the single Lairds engine of 1450ihp drove the little ships at a top speed of 101/2kts. about twice what the New Ironsides could manage. the picture is of Wyvern as i couldn't find one of Scorpion. they were almost exactly alike however so one picture will basically do for both.
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