since today is sunday i decided to warship. here is the HMS Polyphemus an armoured torpedo ram. she was launched in 1881 and sold out of the Royal Navy for scrapping in 1903. Polyphemus was designed to go at high speed into enemy harbours and ram or torpedo enemy warships. she was 240ft. long and displaced 2640tons and had a top speed of 17.8kts. armed with five 14" torpedo tubes and six 1" Nordenfeldt rapid fire guns plus a 3"armoured deck Polyphemus appeared a successful design at first. however, rapid advances in naval gunnery made her obsolete by the time she was launched. she made a good patrol craft however. the first picture is of Polyphemus's officers. the second picture is a diagram of the entire ship. the third is Polyphemus in drydock showing her ram. note the forward tube is in the ram itself which has a cap over the tube. the cap was capable of swiveling upward and out of the way so a torpedo could be fired. the last picture is Polyphemus afloat in harbour. she was the only ship of this design ever to be built for the Royal Navy.
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