Until the end of the 14th century, kogi and other ships had the same weapons as ancient ships, but even after the spread of firearms, their weapons continued to be traditional.
AT « imposcioofficiiGazariae" 1441, it is stipulated that a ship or cog with a cargo of 20,000 cantaro (an old measure of weight that ranged from fifty to eighty kilograms, i.e. we are talking about a cargo of about 1,500 tons) should have on board eight bombards with two hundred "stones" (round stone balls) and three kegs of gunpowder, but it is added that there should be twenty-two cuirasses, twenty-two steel breastplates, six battle axes to cut rigging and spars, three grappels with chains, nails with a wide hat , vats of lime and liquid soap, spikes and arrows.
The ship's arsenal, of course, included conventional edged weapons. It should be explained that the nails scattered on the deck, together with spilled liquid soap, made it impossible to move around the deck; lime was used to blind the enemy and cause him to choke; and the fact that cuirasses and a pike were required on board indicates that the outcome of a naval battle was usually decided in hand-to-hand combat. As a curiosity, one can cite a book written in 1439 by a French admiral named Jean de Beyle and entitled « Iuvincelintroductionauxarms, in which Greek fire, "dolphins" and even divers, specially trained and trained to destroy the bottoms of enemy ships, are included in the ship's armament.
Galleons of the 16th century the entire arsenal consisted almost exclusively of firearms. A declaration issued in 1584 by the French king Henry III, which regulated how ships of certain sizes should be armed (meaning merchant, not military ships), established that ships with a crew of forty-five people were required to have two “cardinal” cannons, four long-range culverins, twelve "support" guns and twelve flamethrowers, but still prescribed twenty-four pikes and two sickles to cut the rigging, as well as twelve crossbows.
In describing rowboats, we mentioned that the galleys had all the artillery at the bow, while the galleys (large three-masted war galleys) had cannons at the stern, plus a few large-caliber muskets and arquebuses on both sides of the quarterdeck, mounted on oak oarlocks. In contrast, on karakkas, galleons and more advanced ships, the main artillery was placed along the sides, and only a few guns could fire forward and backward. This order was
design features: galleys and galleasses did not have a deck on which artillery could be installed, while sailing ships had one, two and three decks, which were part of the ship's structure and therefore capable of withstanding the weight of a large number of large-caliber guns. It should be emphasized that for reasons of stability and in order to avoid breaking the strength of the ship's hull, the most powerful, heavy guns were placed on the lower deck and, accordingly, lighter - on the upper ones. The guns on the main deck, on the forecastle, and on the poop could fire through holes in the bulwarks and railings. These holes did not have to be closed while the ship was moving. However, the guns on the lower decks had to fire through the ports (holes in the very sides of the ship). When the ship was on the march, these ports had to be closed as far as possible for safety. They were quadrangular in shape, almost square, and appeared on carracks around 1450. They are said to have been invented by a French carpenter named Descharde in 1410, and in France they were called « sabords"("cannon ports"). On the bulwarks of the galleasses, the installation of arquebuses and other small firearms was already practiced, but since the design features of the gunwale (a wooden beam that goes over the bulwark, or boulevard, or along the boat side, where oarlocks for oars are attached to it) could hardly provide a sufficiently strong and reliable support, it was impossible to load it with a weapon heavier than a man could hold with iron brackets on which to rest the muzzle.
Light cannons placed on the bow of the galleys, such as falconets and culverins, had wooden barrels and carriages without rollers, and in order to load them, the gunner had to have access to them from the front, from the side of the muzzle. In contrast, the guns on carracks and galleons, as well as on warships and frigates, were mounted on wheeled carriages. The reloading of the guns involved rolling them back and returning to their former place at the side, so that they had to be rolled back and forth using hoists attached to the deck and sides.
Cannons improved over time, and from objects of artistic craftsmanship - which they also were - decorated with elaborate relief ornaments, they turned into simple bronze and steel pipes. Stone cores were replaced with cast iron ones. Iron cannonballs could be fired from the guns chained in pairs to cause more damage to the enemy by breaking spars, or red-hot (the so-called "brandskugels") to cause a fire on board. Even towards the end of the 19th century, when the age of steam began, ship cannons continued to fire round shots, did not have screw threads inside the barrel, and were loaded from the muzzle. The only notable progress was the introduction of "carronades" - guns that, instead of wheeled carriages, were mounted on fixed ones, and instead of aiming at the target with wooden wedges hammered between the barrel and carriage, they had a vertical screw lifting mechanism located between the breech of the gun and the carriage. The name of the gun comes from the town of Carron near Falkirk (the Firth of Forth) in Scotland, where in 1774 guns of this type were first cast.
One of the special types of weapons introduced in the 16th century was the firewall. Actually, it was not a weapon as such, but simply a small ship (or a large boat) loaded with flammable materials, which was launched downwind towards enemy ships. With aiming to set them on fire and disable them.
The maritime history of the 18th century was marked by the appearance of another, in addition to the fleet of England, Holland, Sweden, France, a strong representative, namely the Russian fleet.
And if the British fleet fought back its interests along the coast from the English Channel to Gibraltar, and further to the Mediterranean Sea, the Danish Royal Navy and the Swedish Navy dominated the North Seas, which started the Northern War, by the end of which the Russian Empire became the hegemon in the waves of the Baltic and the future enemy English fleet.
The most powerful ships in the early 18th century
By the beginning of the 18th century, each fleet had flagships that instilled fear in the enemy.
"King Carl" - Sweden
Konung Karl - built in 1694 - was one of the five battleships of the 1st rank available at the beginning of the Northern War. Its parameters are:
- Displacement 2650-2730 Swedish tons.
- Crew of 850 sailors.
- Fortified guns: 100, retrofitted to 108.
- Gun calibers: 10x36, 22x24, 30x18, 28x8, 18x4 in pounds.
- Firepower: 1724 pounds from 108 guns, at a Swedish pound value of 425.1 grams.
“Fredericus Quartus” Denmark-Norway
The Danish-Norwegian flotilla had a new ship of the line, launched in 1699, which had:
- Displacement 3400-3500 tons.
- Caliber guns: 28×36, 32×18, 30×12, 20×6 pounds, with a Danish pound value of 496 grams.
- Salvo gunpower: 2064 lbs.
- In the amount of 110 guns.
- Complete crew of 950 sailors.
HMS Royal Sovereign British Empire
Royal Sovereign is a 100-gun battleship of the first rank sail-powered, released in 1701 from the shipyard of Woolwich. Possessed:
- Displacement 1883 tons.
- 53 meters long (174 gondek feet).
- 15 m wide (or 50 ft midship).
- Intrium depth 20 ft. (about 6 m).
- Gun artillery was distributed: 28 on the gondek of 42- and 32-pounder guns, 28 on the middle battery of the 24-pound midship. guns, 28 on the next lower deck operdeck 12 lb. cannons, 12 on the quarterdeck and 4 on the bow 6 lb. guns.
He took part until the subsequent restructuring in the War of the Spanish Succession.
The most powerful warship at the end of the 18th century
British shipbuilding adhered to the serial production of the prototype HMS Victory, until the release of the last Queen Charlotte hundred-gun model from the shipyard in 1787, when they began building larger examples of flagships of the 1st compliance rank, equipped with a large number of heavy weapons.
This was the descendant of the French battleship in the British version "hms royal sovereign", after 6 years of construction in the shipyard of Chatham, launched in 1795. Despite the possession of high-sail equipment, its driving performance, maneuvering and maximum speed could not serve as a guarantee of advantage for such ships . But the undoubted main advantage and the main and decisive guarantee of victory was the most powerful weapons:
The number of 110 guns was distributed:
- 32 lbs. guns in the amount of 30 on the gondek,
- 24 lb. guns in a count. 30 on the mid-deck
- 18 lb. guns in a count. 32 on the op deck
- 12 lb. guns in a count. 14 on the quarterdeck, and on the tank - 4.
HMS Ville de Paris was the largest three-masted battleship of the time. Possessed impressive parameters:
- Displacement 2390 tons.
- 190 ft. a gondek in length.
- 53 English feet midships wide.
- 22 Imp. feet sump depth.
History favors English ships over Spanish ones, despite their more impressive equipment and armament, as not a single British ship was destroyed in battle during the entire 18th century. The skillful tactics of naval combat and the talent of the admirals of the Royal Navy turned out to be important.
New types of ships of the 18th century
At the beginning of the 18th century, a typical British ship of the 1st rank was a three-decker, 90-100 cannon, with a displacement of 1900, and later over 2000 or more tons, with a requirement of more than 500 units in the crew.
By the end of the century, in the First Rate classification, a three-deck battleship had up to 130 armament guns. Fully equipped, the ships exceeded 2,500 tons with heavy 40-pounder guns placed in the lower deck. However, the low draft of ships and rough waves did not always make it possible to use the power of the batteries on the lower deck.
The linear tactics of naval combat invented by the Dutch, when lining up ships in a line and conducting heavy artillery fire, for a century determined the tactics of battle using a class of battleships of the highest rank and frigates.
The ranking class adopted in the Admiralty in terms of size, requirements for the number of crew, the number of guns on the gun decks, and the power of weapons corresponded to:
- Three-deck ships of the 1st and 2nd rank, from 100 guns;
- Double-deck ships of the 3rd and 4th ranks, less than 100 pieces with the most practical 32 lb. and 24 lb. tools.
On the three-deck British battleship "Queen Charlotte" with a displacement of 2280 tons in 1793, batteries of guns were placed in the amount of:
- 30x 32-lb. on the racetrack
- 30x 24-lb. on middeldeck,
- 30x 12-lb. on the front deck
- 4x 12-lb. and 20 carronades on the forecastle, quarter quarters, poop.
ship "Santisima Trinidad"
The Spanish fleet looked impressive: a super-powerful 136-gun. four-decker giant "Santisima Trinidad" and ten 112-gun. ships. The ships of France with a large size and weight could surpass them in displacement. The Commerce de Marseille weighed about 2,750 tons and was heavily armed with a 36-pounder. (nominal value of 40 English pounds) guns.
New technologies in naval affairs
The contribution of British shipbuilders to the design of battleships is great. Construction at the royal shipyards was carried out for a long time and carefully, the selected ship timber required many years of endurance. In the service of these expensive specimens of ship art consisted of several decades.
Strict adherence to the basic principles of shipbuilding made the process of improvements slow until the very end of the 18th century. In fact, not only British battleship designs were improved, the achievements of the Spaniards should be noted.
The ship "HMS Victory" on the slipway
To improve the handling of large high-deck craft, Dutch rudder configurations have become common. In Britain, when building new ships from 1703, they began to use the steering wheel, which replaced the calderstock. In Spain, this process dragged on for a long time.
By the period of the French Revolution and the reign of Napoleon I, Britain had the world's largest military force at sea: one and a half hundred ships of the line and several hundred ships of lower ranks.
The very definition of "ship of the line" was established from the tactical scheme of linear combat invented by the Dutch, designed for structural strength and penetrating power: ships, lined up and relying on the strength of the hulls, withstood enemy artillery fire. At the same time, heavy weapons destroyed the enemy fleet with return fire.
Over the course of a century, the size of the ships participating in the battle of the line changed in the direction of increasing, equipping additional decks to accommodate firing batteries, the number of crew grew with the increase in the number of guns. Empirically, the advantage of a larger number of guns over an increase in the caliber and severity of weapons was verified.
In this century, the tactical understanding of naval combat has shifted from the adventure of daring maneuvers in battle to achieve victory, to maintaining the harmony of the battle line and the strategic safety of the flotilla in order to quickly restore the squadron's combat capability to new attacks.
The evolution of shipbuilding
You can understand the evolution of ship structures in the 18th century using the Spanish giant Santisima Trinidad as an example. The battleship was built in Havana in 1769 at the largest shipyard of that time during the improvement of three-masted rounded ships.
The success of the construction of all navios depended on hardwood from the Cuban and colonial coast, which was able to use. If the British and French made hulls from European oak, yards and masts were built from pine, Spanish shipbuilders used materials of excellent mahogany, which is more resistant to fungal dry rot in high humidity conditions, which quickly turns oak wooden structures into rotten wood material. Such destruction is common to all wooden ships, so having a supply of hardwood for the construction and repair of ships was an important advantage.
The keel of the vessel was a longitudinal binder of the skeleton, providing longitudinal strength, fastening the stem in front, and the sternpost behind. Frames were attached on top - ribs mutually attached inside and outside. This was followed by parts of the connections: beams, wels, deck crossbars, elements of side sets of beams, carlings, branches of frames.
The use of pins and forged bolts was supposed to provide reliable fastening of thousands of ship and skeleton parts. The transition to metal bolts and dowels and from wooden nuts to metal ones, ensuring the strengthening of twisted cables and ropes for fastening masts and sails determined the dynamic balance and stability of heavy ships.
"Santissima Trinidad" became the only warship of the 1st rank with four decks, designed to accommodate up to 144 guns. The rest were three-masted and three-deck. Navio of the 2nd rank were three-deck, with a calculation of 80÷98 guns. Ships of the 3rd rank were two-deck for 74÷80 guns.
The height of a rank 1 navio building from the keel to the upper deck is comparable to a 5-storey building.
During the Seven Years' War of 1756–1763. the largest battleships were equipped with 50 ÷ 60 guns. However, closer to the end of the century, ships with 64 guns belonged to the rank of small of the participants in a linear battle, and one or two hundred gunners were no longer enough. The backbone of a squadron with a hundred guns on board was required. The standard equipment of a battleship in the era of revolutions and wars of Napoleon is 74 guns. At the same time, they began to rank a ship with a design of at least 2 gun decks, extending along the length from the bow to the stern.
With regard to the Spanish navio, the concentration of powerful combat artillery on the decks did not reduce the ability of this type of vessel to withstand the pressure of close combat for a long time. As an example, the flagship of the Spaniards "Santissima Trinidad". In the battle of 1797 at Cape St. Vincent, during the blockade of Gibraltar (1779 - 1782), at Trafalgar, the opposition to the most powerful salvo cannonade of British battleships did not allow the bulk of the Spanish ship to be flooded.
However, as before, in the age of sailing, the mobility of fleets was determined by the laws of the wind, although progress in the development of sailing equipment and the reliability of rigging made it possible to control very heavy ships.
The most powerful fleet of the 18th century
Having determined the alignment of the naval forces of the century, the British wars for the Spanish succession date back to 1704, where the main goal was to establish British dominance along the coast of France - Spain, take control of the Mediterranean key Gibraltar and designate the superiority of the Royal Flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea to the African coast.
By the end of the century, Britain had acquired the status of a powerful naval power. If no one could resist the Napoleonic army on land, then the British armada of 146 battleships only reliably controlled the European coast, forming an impregnable shield for the island empire, and threatening any enemy at sea.
England became the undisputed maritime power, taking first place. The fleet became the force that ensured victory when a squadron appeared under the British flag. The pressure of the fleet and the risk of a lightning-fast amphibious landing with fire support from linear artillery made it possible to solve military problems due to undeniable power at sea.
Concerning the differences between the Spanish, French and British ships, the difference in the design of ship space is obvious. The Spanish navi and French battleships were not adapted to cruising for a long period of time, due to the lack of space required for storage of provisions, and excluded a long stay on the high seas. It was supposed to use escort ships for these purposes.
British warships had the ability to make long expeditions and stay in the open seas for a long time. Which gave the prerequisites for a protracted siege and blockade of ports by the forces of several ships. What was demonstrated at the siege of Toulon (1793), when only Bonaparte's artillery talent and courage surpassed the tactics of the British.
Naval battles and wars of the 18th century
Anglo-French confrontation at the beginning of the century
An illustrative example is the naval battle at Gibraltar in August 1704.
The French fleet consisted of 51 battleships from 50 to 96 guns, including 16 three-deckers, with a total number of over 3600 pieces of artillery. He had twenty French and Spanish galleys, adapted for ramming. Galleys with 4-6 heavy guns on the forecastle and a crew of over 500 people each, consisting of three squadrons, represented an impressive force.
The allies - the Dutch and the British - also had 51 battleships with 3600 guns, but only 8 three-deck ones. In general, a conditional equality of enemy forces was ensured: nine 80-gun English ships were equal in strength to three-decker French ships with 84-88 guns, the rest of the forces were approximately parity.
The English ships lined up in the vanguard, the center with the commander-in-chief Rook, the rearguard of the Dutch ships. And twenty enemy heavy galleys were opposed by 2 small battleships.
The battle began with the battle of the vanguards and the desire to enter the maneuver from the windward. After 10 hours of cannonade of the centers in a fierce fire ship against ship, despite the fires and significant destruction, there were no ships sunk or captured. Due to the rapid consumption of the arsenal of warheads, the British suffered more noticeable damage.
The tactics of the sea battle of the British - to shoot the hulls of ships and manpower - brought heavy losses to the enemy. The French tactic to damage the masts and rigging deprived the enemy of maneuverability and made it possible to capture boarding.
Thus, with equal forces, superiority in battle was achieved by tactical calculation.
Anglo-Spanish naval battles at the end of the century
In the battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1797, the British forced the Spanish ships to retreat. The Spaniards saved the fleet from complete defeat, including the retreat of the Santissima Trinidad to Cadiz, where the flotilla consisted of 26 line ships.
Count St. Vincent, aboard 110 Ville-de-Paris cannons, having received reinforcements, led a squadron of 21 battleships from Lisbon to Cadiz. In the summer, when the internal squadron of Horatio Nelson was attached, a naval blockade of the Spanish port was organized, which lasted for several years.
Battle in 1797 Cape St. Vincent
The goal was to force the Spaniards to leave the harbor and impose an open battle, but they did not attempt to break through the blockade, successfully repelling the attacks of the British ships and inflicting sensitive damage on the fort's batteries. However, the British managed to force the Spaniards into battle by organizing an attack on the bay.
After the first bombardment with mortars from sailing ships, when the approaching Spaniards got involved in hand-to-hand combat and Commander Nelson was close to death, a second followed. From three bombardment ships under the cover of 74 battleship guns and 2 frigates, the British managed to damage the port and the fleet, forcing the enemy fleet to withdraw beyond the reach of the British guns. In the future, adverse winds did not give the British the opportunity for new attacks and cooled their enthusiasm.
Nelson decided to profit from the extraction of gallions from the New World, setting off from Gibraltar to the Canary Islands, where in the battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife he almost lost his life again, was defeated and lost his arm.
Prior to this, in clashes, including general battles, boarding skirmishes, landing operations near their shores, the Spaniards suffered defeat. The exceptions were the failures of the British in the colonies of San Juan, Puerto Rico and Tenerife, the Caribbean.
Having taken deceptive maneuvers, the British landed troops, one of which was knocked out of the pier, the other made his way into the city, where he was surrounded. And the second column of English ships was thrown out of the harbor. Nelson was forced to capitulate and, with the permission of the governor of the capital, leave Tenerife.
The failure in Tenerife serves as a symbol of the island's triumph to this day.
The role of the ship's armament
The difference in armament determined the real firepower. Heavy guns had a short range. Yes, and large-caliber volleys shook the fortress of the ship. The manufacturing quality of the gun determined its accuracy, range, and durability. Therefore, with an equal number of guns, firepower could turn out to be different for different tactics. The classification of a ship often included only deck guns with ports to the installation site, and did not count additional guns on the forecastle and quarterdeck.
Therefore, the fluctuation in the calculation of the number of guns was not a reflection of the strength of the battleship, and the formal total mass of the side salvo of the battleship did not reflect the destructive power and degree of danger.
18th century English navy
The significance of the military presence at sea was great, and the influence of the fleet on the outcome of events on the coast is everywhere noticed, due to the rapid movement through the water and the landing with fire support. At sea, no one dared to stand in the way of the British flotilla: freely dominating the sea, the goals were achieved without a fight.
In the Seven Years' War, battleships were equipped with artillery from 50-60 guns. By the end of the century, ships with 64 guns had relegated to the rank of small, the strength of the squadron was determined by the presence of more than two hundred-gun battleships. During the reign of Napoleon, the class of battleships ranged from 74-gun ships and a design of 2 decks of gun batteries running from bow to stern.
British ships of the Colossus class series played a significant role during the wars with the Bonapartists. Then the world's largest navy consisted of 146 battleships and several hundred ships of a lower rank. About open opposition was not heard at all.
Navy of France in the 18th century
The French fleets after the battles of Gibraltar and Malaga avoided major naval battles, participating only in cruising skirmishes. In the following decades, no major naval battles were recorded. The importance of the French navy was waning; the participation of individual squadrons in cruising operations was occasionally noted. The attempt during the Napoleonic period to defeat the British flotilla at Cape Trafalgar ended in failure for the French and the death of Nelson for the British, who were guaranteed success everywhere in the years following this period.
In the last decade of the 18th century, the French fleet had five ships of the line with 110 guns and three with 118 guns.
French ships with 74 guns were recognized as the best in this class, their contours were used in projects at the beginning of the next century.
Russian fleet of the 18th century
The evolution of the Russian fleet overcame a long distance over the course of the 18th century: from the ships of the Arkhangelsk Pomors to the imperial flotilla on, Azov and. Important milestones for the fleet of the Empire were:
- Northern War 1700 - 1721
- Russian-Turkish war 1768 - 1774
- Russian-Turkish war 1787 - 1791
- Russian-Swedish war 1788 - 1790
The Russian Baltic Fleet in 1710 consisted of 3 linear 50 cannon ships of 18, 8, 4-pounder caliber guns. In 1720, there were already 25 combat-ready battleships.
The first full-fledged, significant naval victory of the Russian fleet in the history of Russia was won in the Battle of Gangut over the Swedes in 1714 near the Finnish Cape Gangut in the Baltic Sea. And at the close of the Great Northern War in 1720, near the Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea, in the last battle near Grengam Island, maneuverable Russian ships inflicted significant damage on the enemy in shallow water. As a result, an end was put to the undivided Swedish dominance in the northern seas off the coast of the Russian Empire.
At the end of the century, at the height of the Turkish war, Sweden, with the support of Great Britain, Holland, and Prussia, tried to take advantage of the apparent advantage by starting hostilities in the Gulf of Finland. As a result, it became obvious that even under favorable circumstances, the fight against Russia is a lost cause.
Navy of Sweden 18th century
At the beginning of the Northern War, the Swedish Royal Navy was in service in 1700. 38 battleships, 10 frigates, including 5 ships of the 1st rank. The opposing Danish Royal Navy has 29 battleships and 4 frigates.
The victories of the Russian army on land in opposition to the army of the Swedes turned out to be decisive for the outcome of the Northern War. The enemy was forced out of the coast, his rear resources dried up. Therefore, the state of the fleet became deplorable. A sensitive defeat in 1710 by the newly strengthened Danish fleet in Køge Bay further reduced the size of Sweden's claims in the northern seas. After the Battle of Gangut, worried about the increased power of the Russian imperial army and flotilla, England, having created a military alliance with Sweden, was looking for allies in the south in the Black Sea.
Until 1721, Sweden was able to build only 1 battleship and 10 frigates for its fleet. The number of battleships, as combat units of the fleet, was reduced from 48 in 1709 to 22 in 1720.
In the Battle of Hogland in 1788, the once strong Swedish squadron of 16 battleships and 7 frigates in the Gulf of Finland was opposed by 17 battleships of the Russian Baltic Fleet.
However, the history of the century presented different variants of alliances and confrontations. So during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) - the world conflict of interests of the major powers - England became an ally of Prussia - the main enemy of Russia - and Prussia did not have its own fleet, Sweden acted on the side of Russia, and the main task of the Russian fleet was to prevent the presence of English ships in the Baltic.
In the future, the reversal of alliances has repeatedly characterized the processes in the global confrontation in the open sea.
Only because of this museum you can go to Stockholm for the weekend! I wrote this post for a long time, if you are too lazy to read, check out the photos)
Prologue
On August 10, 1628, a large warship sailed from the harbor of Stockholm. Big, probably an understatement, for the Swedes it was huge. Rarely have they built ships of this magnitude. The weather was clear, the wind was light but gusty. There were about 150 crew members on board, as well as their families - women and children (on the occasion of the first voyage, a magnificent celebration was expected, so the crew members were allowed to take their family members and relatives with them). It was the newly built Vasa, named after the ruling dynasty. As part of the solemn ceremony, a salute was fired from cannons located in holes on both sides of the ship. Nothing foreshadowed trouble, the ship was moving towards the entrance to the harbor. A gust of wind came up, the ship tilted a little, but held firm. A second gust of wind was stronger and tumbled the ship on its side, water gushing through the open holes for the guns. From that moment on, collapse became inevitable. Perhaps a panic began on the ship, not everyone managed to get to the upper deck and jump into the water. But still, most of the team managed. The ship stayed on its side for only six minutes. Vasa became a grave for at least 30 people, and fell asleep for 333 years, just like in a fairy tale. Under the cut you will find photos and a story about the fate of the ship. 
02. Look at him closer. 
03. "Vasa" was built in Stockholm by order of Gustavus Adolf II, King of Sweden, under the leadership of the Dutch shipbuilder Henrik Hibertson. A total of 400 people worked on the building. Its construction took about two years. The ship had three masts, could carry ten sails, its dimensions were 52 meters from the top of the mast to the keel and 69 meters from bow to stern; weight was 1200 tons. By the time it was completed, it was one of the largest ships in the world. 
04. Of course, they are not allowed on the ship, the museum has locations that show how it is inside. 
05. What went wrong? In the 17th century there were no computers, there were only tables of dimensions. But a ship of this level cannot be built "approximately". High side, short keel, 64 guns on the sides in two tiers, Gustavus Adolf II wanted to have more guns on the ship than was usually installed. The ship was built with a high superstructure, with two additional decks for guns. This let him down, the center of gravity was too high. The bottom of the ship was filled with large stones that served as ballast for stability on the water. But "Vasa" was too heavy at the top. As always, little things overlapped, they put less ballast (120 tons is not enough) than necessary, because they were afraid that the speed would be low, for some reason they did not build a reduced copy either. The comments suggest that there was nowhere else to put the ballast. 
06. "Vasa" was to become one of the leading ships of the Swedish Navy. As I said, he had 64 guns, most of them 24 pounds (they fired shots weighing 24 pounds or over 11 kg). There is a version that they made it for the war with Russia. But at that time the Swedes had more problems with Poland. By the way, they managed to get guns almost immediately, they were very valuable. England bought the right to raise. If the guide did not lie, these guns were then bought by Poland for the war with Sweden). 
07. Why don't other ships rise after 300 years? And there is simply nothing left of them. The secret is that the shipworm, Teredo navalis, which devours wooden debris in salt water, is not very common in the slightly saline waters of the Baltic, and in other seas it is quite capable of gobbling up the skin of an operating ship in a short time. Plus, the local water itself is a good preservative, its temperature and salinity are optimal for sailboats. 
08. The nose did not enter the lens completely. 
09. A lion holds a crown in its paws. 
10. There is a copy nearby, you can take a closer look. 
11. All faces are different. 
12. Look closely at the stern. Initially, it was colored and gilded. 
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16. He was like that, I don’t like him like that. But in the 17th century there were clearly different views on shipbuilding. 
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18. The life of sailors in the context, there are no cabins, everything is on deck. 
19. As for the rise of the ship, not everything was easy here either. The ship was found by Anders Franzen, an independent researcher, from childhood he was interested in the wreckage of ships. And of course he knew all about the crash. For several years, with the help of a lot and a cat, a search was carried out. "I mostly picked up rusty iron stoves, ladies bikes, Christmas trees and dead cats." But in 1956 "pecked". And Anders Franzen did everything to raise the ship. And he convinced the bureaucrats that he was right, and organized the "Save Vasa" campaign and collected and repaired a bunch of various diving equipment that was considered unusable from the port dumps. Money began to flow and things went smoothly, it took two years to build the tunnels under the ship. washed under the ship, dangerous and courageous work.The tunnels were very narrow and the divers had to squeeze through them without getting tangled.And of course, a thousand-ton ship hanging above them did not give courage, Nobody knew if the Vasa could withstand it. the world has not yet raised the ships that sank so long ago!But "Vasa" withstood, did not crumble during the sharpening, when divers - mostly amateur archaeologists - entangled its hull with ropes and attached it to hooks lowered into the water from cranes and pontoons - miracle, scientific miracle. 
20. For another two years, he hung in this state, while the divers prepared him for the rise, plugging thousands of holes formed from rusty metal bolts. and on April 24, 1961, everything worked out. In that blackened ghost that was brought to the surface, no one would have identified the same "Vasa". Years of work lay ahead. Initially, the ship was doused with jets of water, and at this time, experts developed a proper method of conservation. The preservative material chosen was polyethylene glycol, a water-soluble, viscous substance that slowly penetrates the wood to replace the water. The polyethylene glycol spraying continued for 17 years. 
21. 14,000 lost wooden objects were raised to the surface, including 700 sculptures. Their conservation was carried out on an individual basis; then they took their original places on the ship. The task was like a jigsaw puzzle. 
22. Blade handle. 
23.
24. The inhabitants of the ship. The bones were extracted mixed, without modern technology, nothing would have happened. 
25.
26. Museum staff went further than just showing visitors the skeletons. With the help of "spectral analysis" they restored the faces of some people. 
27. Look very close to the living. 
28. Frightening look. 
29.
30.
31.
32.
33. That's probably all I wanted to tell you. By the way, the ship is 98% original! 
34. Thank you for your attention. 
Holland entered the ocean later than other powerful powers. America was already discovered, the whole New World was divided by Pope Alexander VI between Spain and Portugal, and the English and French monarchs raised their hand over the overseas lands, and Holland, which was under the heel of the Spaniards, still did not have its own shipbuilding.
The impetus for its creation, perhaps, was the first major revolt of the Dutch bourgeoisie, which the Spanish governors imposed excessive taxes. In 1567 Philip II, who reigned on the Spanish throne, sends an army to the Netherlands, led by the merciless Duke of Alba, who brutally cracks down on the rebels, executing over eight thousand people. The Spaniards could not restrain the response wave of popular anger.
The Gezes, the first fearless sailors of Holland, entered the waterways, rapidly taking one coastal city after another. It cannot be said that the leader of the Dutch nobility, William of Orange, who mainly relied on mercenary troops, was aloof from the great battles for the independence of his country. But only the military successes of sea gezes and their hardy ships allowed the main thing to happen - in 1582.
The Netherlands finally declares King Philip deposed. One of the first offspring of a free republic was the East India Company, founded in 1602. with the permission of the Estates General.
Dutch courts of the 17th century.
Thanks to its own fleet of solid and solid construction, the company, which received a monopoly on trade with Asian countries, soon becomes one of the richest in the world. A new type of merchant ship appears.
These ships had three masts and were armed with 16-20 small guns, although they were not designed for combat operations. The displacement of East Indian ships averaged about 600 tons. The ratio of the length of the hull to the width of the vessels of this type was even greater than that of the gallion.
To give the ship strength, the frames were placed at a small distance from each other, and in the places where the masts were installed, they were made double. The set was reinforced with horizontal and vertical knees. The ship's hull was made of oak wood - in total, at least two thousand well-dried oaks were required for its construction.
When cutting wood, care was taken to ensure that the bending of the fibers corresponded to the shape of the cut part. A detail made in this way became "eternal". They preferred to fasten oak planks to frames with wooden spikes - iron nails rusted too quickly in salty sea water.
Meanwhile, nails were used to fasten less critical structural elements of the ship. So, in order to protect the ship below the waterline from wood-boring beetles, the lower part of the hull was additionally sheathed with thin elm boards. The nails that fastened this "second skin" were located so close to each other that almost a continuous iron coating was obtained from their caps.
Dutch horn of the 17th century
Knitsa - a piece of wood connecting beams with frames.
Kat-beam - a beam for lifting the anchor from the hawse to the upper deck with the help of hoists.
A galley is a place on a ship for cooking.
The spacious deck of the East Indian ships was free, and in the bow was limited to a transverse bulkhead (bikged). The protruding bow end - a latrine, the device of which was adopted from the galleys, was limited by smoothly curved slats (regels). In the low quarterdeck at the stern there were officers' cabins with wide bright windows.
A galley was usually equipped under the tank. There were many new technical devices that facilitated the hard work of the team. For example, to lift the anchor, they begin to use a special cut-beam. The pump helps sailors quickly pump out water that has leaked into the holds. And for loading goods on merchant ships, horizontal winches were installed - windlasses.
Japanese drawing of the 17th century depicting a ship of the Dutch East India Company
The Dutch ships - pinnaces and flutes - often flickering in Mediterranean waters, were in many ways superior to their southern competitors. Flute 30-40 meters long had a rounded stern with a superstructure. The sides at the top were too folded inward, and the flute deck was very narrow.
Probably, such a constructive decision was influenced by the size of the duty levied at that time by the Sound Customs: it was set depending on the width of the deck of a passing vessel. Dutch ships felt quite confident in the Pacific. And after Holland establishes a monopoly on trade with Japan, for about a hundred years in a row, not a single European ship under a different flag entered Japanese ports.
flute dutch
Tali is a lifting device consisting of two blocks through which a cable passes. Tali give a gain in strength by reducing the speed of lifting.
Dec - gun deck on a sailing ship.
A couple of decades pass, and in England, which did not want to accept the loss of the title of "Queen of the Seas", they begin to build military frigates. The progenitor of the first frigate, built in 1646 by the famous British shipbuilder Peter Pett, was the Dutch pinnace with its high stern superstructures, blind topmast and rich decor. But more slender than that of the pinnace, the hull of the frigate turned out to be much more seaworthy.
In the 17th century this single-deck ship had the highest speed and was often used for cruising - frigates were with many fleets as messenger and reconnaissance ships. During the battle, they supported other ships with artillery fire or boarded. Frigates, at first inferior in size to battleships, gradually become more massive and already carry up to sixty artillery pieces.
The largest guns are beginning to be installed on four-wheeled carriages, which replaced the old two-wheeled ones. Along with iron guns, bronze guns are increasingly being used, although expensive, but much lighter and more reliable (iron guns often burst when fired, unable to withstand the shock wave). At the same time, attempts are being made, at first not very successful, to replace the bronze cannons with cast iron ones. Guns are beginning to be unified depending on the weight of the cannonballs (for example, a one and a half ton culverin was included in the 18-pound guns).
The stern of the Dutch flagship Zeeland, 1668
While England is improving in the construction of warships, the merchant fleet of Holland is growing by leaps and bounds. By 1643, it numbered as many as 34,000 ships! This figure, which hardly fits in the mind, but nevertheless absolutely reliable figure, is the best evidence of the vast experience accumulated by that time by the Dutch shipbuilders. It is not for nothing that Tsar of All Russia Peter I chooses Holland to master the art of shipbuilding, where for about a year he works as a carpenter at the Saardam shipyards of the East India Company under the name of Peter Mikhailov.
By the way, the Russian Tsar also ordered his first 44-gun frigate in Holland. The vessel, created by the famous Nikolos, received a very symbolic name - "Holy Prophecy". However, let's not get ahead of ourselves, because the history of the Russian regular navy dates back to even earlier times.
Prince, 100-gun English ship, 1672
Ufers - wooden blocks without pulleys, having three holes for the passage of the cable. Used to tighten standing rigging.
Bram-topmast is a spar tree, which is a continuation of the topmast.
Brahm - a word added to the name of all sails and gear belonging to the bram topmast.
Tank and kvar-Model of the battleship "Royal Sovereign", XVII century.
English ship of the line of the late 17th century.
By the end of the 17th century, the galleon finally gives way to the more advanced hull construction of the terdek ships, decreasing in height. Decorations, so as not to overload the bow and stern, are simplified and are now more in harmony with the general appearance and character of the vessel. The sailing equipment of the ships does not stand still either.
The descendants of the naves are armed without exception with three masts with topsails and bramsails. On each mast, supported by shrouds and stays, three parts are already clearly distinguishable: the lower mast, the topmast and the topmast. The guys are stuffed with hoists, in which, instead of the usual blocks, they begin to use yufers. Additional sails appear: foxes and underliesels. On the mizzen mast, the Latin mizzen is firmly established, and under the bowsprit - a straight blind.
English ship of the line Sovereign of the Seas, 1637
Bramsel - the third straight sail from the bottom, the name of the mast to which it belongs is added to its name.
Liseli - additional sails on ships with direct armament. They put direct sails to help in a light wind, fastened on two sides of the yard to retractable spar trees - fox spirits.
Underlices - lower foxes.
The basis of all military fleets of the XVII century. become ships of the line. Why, in fact, linear? This name was given to them by the tactics of naval combat practiced at that time. In the battle, the ships tried to line up in one line (wake column) so that during the shooting they were turned sideways to the enemy fleet, and when the enemy fired back, they had time to turn around to the stern. The fact is that the greatest damage to enemy ships was caused by a simultaneous salvo from all the onboard guns of a battleship.
Swedish warship Vasa, 1628
The battleships, convincingly demonstrating to each other the firepower of their powers, always had battery decks. Depending on the displacement and the number of such decks, the British begin to divide their ships into eight ranks. Thus, a ship of the first rank had a displacement of 5,000 tons and three decks with 110 guns, and a lighter 3,500-ton ship of the 2nd rank carried 80 guns on two battery decks. Later, the English system of ranking ships migrated almost unchanged to the rest of the European fleets - it was simply not possible to divide the ships of the line on a different basis, because the shipbuilders created them too different.
An interesting example of Dutch shipbuilding architecture is the 100-gun three-decker ship Queen Catherine, launched in 1664. With a length of 82m and a width of about 18m, the Queen Catherine was considered one of the largest Dutch-built ships. For the first time, the steering wheel was placed on the deck of the vessel (on the quarterdeck), which becomes much easier to control than the tiller. The ship had a short forecastle, to which two ladders led - on the starboard and port sides.
On the forecastle, not far from the foremast, hung a ship's bell, which set the "tempo of life" of the ship. Between the forecastle and the main mast there was a waist, on which a capstan was installed to lift the anchor. In the same part of the vessel, a hold was arranged, and four small boats - barges - stood on the rosters. In terms of combat power, the ship was not inferior to a real naval base. Its armament included 60 heavy 42-pounders, thirty 24-pounders, and ten 6-pounders. The heaviest ship artillery was placed on the lower decks. Like all Dutch ships, the Queen Catherine had a wide bow, a rounded stern and rich decorations.
One of the stages of the operation to raise the "Vase"
Rosters - part of the upper deck between the fore and main masts, where the boats and spare spars were placed.
Ladder is the name of any ladder on a ship.
A lifeboat is a small vessel that is an auxiliary and (or) rescue equipment on a ship.
In those days, people were still very fond of the decor of large warships, which sometimes even led to tragic consequences, especially if the ship's hull was built "by eye". It is useful to recall the history of the famous Swedish "Vase". This ship, built on the orders of King Gustav II Adolf, was not only supposed to bear the honorary title of the royal flagship, but also surpass all other ships in the Swedish fleet in size.
Coming out in August 1628. on its first voyage, the ship, carrying about 700 various ornaments and sculptures, just a mile from the coast scooped water with cannon ports, tilted and, capsizing due to poor stability, sank in Stockholm Bay in front of onlookers. Not a single member of the crew escaped.
In the sailing fleet (the end of the 17th - the middle of the 19th century), did the battleship become the largest warship? a three-masted vessel with strong artillery armament (from 60 to 130 guns).
Depending on the displacement, dimensions and, first of all, on the number of guns, in accordance with the “Table of Ranks of Ships” (XVII century), the ships were divided into six ranks. By the middle of the 19th century, the displacement of battleships reached 5000 tons, armament? 130 guns, crew? 800 people.
The trends in the development of warships from galleon to linear are illustrated by the English warship built in 1637 “Sovereign of the Seas” (“Lord of the Seas”)? fig 9.1. Its displacement is 1530 tons, the maximum length is 71 m, the width is 14.2 m, the hold depth is 5.9 m, the maximum draft is 6.75 m. For the first time in the history of shipbuilding, artillery pieces were placed on three decks.
This ship is considered the first sailing ship of the line in the history of shipbuilding. On three continuous battery decks and on the fourth tier of the battery on the quarterdeck was installed
126 guns, 20 of them heavy 60-pounders, eight? 38 lb. Crew? 800 people. The ship was decorated with numerous baroque sculptures and wood carvings. The cost of the ship was enormous: ten ordinary 40-gun ships could be built for it. The English king Charles I, on whose orders this ship was built, was blamed for unjustified waste in financing the construction of the navy. The political passions of those years led to the fact that the king was executed (in 1649) by order of Oliver Cromwell. The ship lived a long life? rebuilt three times and was afloat
60 years. He repeatedly took part in naval battles, but did not die in a naval battle, but burned down in a parking lot in Chatham (near London) from the fire of an overturned candle.
The first third of the 17th century included the entry of France into the great maritime powers. This is due to the name of the Duke of Richelieu, on whose initiative the reconstruction of the seaports of France began, several sailing ships were bought from Holland, which became the first large warships of the navy. In 1636, the first ship of the line of his own construction, “Le
Korona ”(Korona) (displacement? 2100 tons, waterline length? 50.7 m, side height? 10.5 m, mouth-mast from keel to klotik? 57.6 m, armament? 72 guns on three decks, crew ?604 people). The ship was built by Charles Maurier.
An example of a battleship of the 1st rank perfect for that time is the French three-decker 120-gun Soleil Royal (Sun King), built in 1690 (Fig. 9.2). His measurements were close to the table of ranks and were: length? 55 m, width? 15.5 m, deepening of the hold? 6.7 m; crew? 875 people. For a long period, the Soleil Royal was considered the best among the battleships of the leading maritime powers of the world in terms of its driving performance, firepower, decor. Another well-known battleship of the 1st rank was the Spanish Santisima Trinidad (Fig. 9.3), built in 1769 at the Spanish naval shipyard in Havana (Cuba). Hull and deck made of Cuban mahogany, mast and yard? from Mexican pine. Side thickness? 0.6 m. For the first time, a ship of this class had four gun decks, on which 144 guns were installed, 30 of them 32 caliber pounds were located on the lower deck. The firing range of these guns? 1.5 miles. On the second deck, two 18-pound and twenty-six 8-pound guns and mortars were installed. The remaining guns occupied the third and fourth decks. Despite numerous hits on this ship of the line by English ships in the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, he
was not sunk. During the battle, 1,200 sailors and marines were on the ship.
The English battleship Victory, which took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, has survived to the present day (Fig. 9.4). It has become a memorial ship and since 1922 has been standing in the Portsmouth dry dock in honor of the victory of the British fleet over the combined naval forces of Spain and France. The place on the deck where the mortally wounded Admiral Nelson fell is marked with a memorial plate. The ship of the line was built by shipbuilders D. Lock and E. Allan back in 1765 in Chatham near London. It had three decks and three masts. For the construction of "Victory" 2.5 thousand trees were used, mainly oak. The keel is made up of several elm trunks, the frames were hewn with an ax according to the drawings, which were made in full size. The sides with a thickness of 0.6 m consisted of external and internal plating, fastened with steel bolts and oak dowels. Displacement? about 3.5 thousand tons, length? 57 m, width? about 16 m, crew? 850 people. Was armed with 104 guns, of which more than half are heavy? 32- and 24-pound.
Since the end of the 17th century, a new type of ship has appeared in the navies of different countries for long-range reconnaissance and cruising service (independent combat operations on sea and ocean communications with the aim of capturing and destroying enemy merchant ships)? frigate? with sufficiently powerful artillery weapons, but faster than battleships. It differed from the latter in smaller dimensions (displacement 700? -1000 tons and more) and a smaller number of guns. Among the frigates there were also large ones, which had up to 60 guns, which were included in the battle line and were called linear frigates. Here are some typical ships of this type. The French frigate "Flora" (Fig. 9.5), built in 1780, had the greatest length? 
47 m, keel? 38 m, maximum width? 11.6 m, draft? 5 m, armament? 30 9-pounder guns, crew? About 300 people. The American frigate Constitution (Fig. 9.6), built in Boston in 1797, was designed to protect American shipping lanes from pirates in the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas. Its length is 62.2 m, width 13.6 m, side height 6.85 m. Armament reached 55 guns, twenty-eight of which were 24-pounders, and ten were 12-pounders. Crew? 400 people. The frigate was afloat for 150 years, it was repeatedly restored, and since 1947 it has been permanently moored in Boston as a memorial ship.
The history of the development of frigates is interesting. Initially, in 
XIII?-XVI centuries, a frigate (sailing and rowing ship with galleys) had 4-5 pairs of oars, an oblique sail. On long trips, it was towed by the flagship galley. The largest sailing and rowing ship of the skerry fleet was also called a frigate, in addition to sails, it had 12 ... 18 pairs of oars, it was armed with up to 38 guns. After going through a series of changes, frigates as a class of ships were revived in the modern navies of different countries (the name was given during the Second World War). Now their combat mission is to search for and destroy enemy submarines, 
anti-submarine and anti-missile defense of ships and transports during operations as part of search groups and security forces.
Corvettes XVII-?XVIII centuries? ships with a displacement of 460 tons or more; they had the same as frigates, direct sailing and 18? 30 guns on the upper deck and were used mainly
for reconnaissance and messenger service (Fig. 9.7, a). Corvette “Astrolabe” (France, 1811) had a length of 101.04 feet (30.08 m), a width along the deck of 28.54 feet (8.7 m), a draft of 11.97 feet (3.65 m), displacement 380 t.
brigs were significantly smaller than frigates, their displacement? 200?400 t, length? up to 32 m, width? 8 ... 9 m, direct armament on two masts, on the second main mast, in addition to direct sails, another oblique was placed. Crew? up to 120 people, artillery weapons? up to 24 guns. They appeared in the 18th century and were used not only as cruising, sentinel, but also as messengers (Fig. 9.7, b).
The total area of sails raised on a 120-gun ship of the line reached 3140 m2, on frigates? 2500 m2, on brigs? 760 m2, which gave 0.65 per ton of displacement, respectively;
1.0; 1.9 m2. The specific sailing armament also determined the speed qualities of the ships. Brigs and frigates, the speed of which reached 10 knots, and the mass of sails? 4 tons were faster than battleships. The desire to limit the diversity of the navy, to introduce proven ship designs has led to the fact that in all the fleets of the world the practice of compiling ship states (the tables of ranks mentioned above) has been established. The states were most fully developed and repeatedly updated in England and France, and then in Russia. They determined the hierarchy of warships, as well as the main characteristics and specification requirements for construction. Table 1 gives an idea of such states at the beginning of the 18th century. 9.1, borrowed from the work of R.M. Melnikov). The information refers to the armament and equipment of English ships according to the Admiralty rules of 1709?-1727. The military sailing fleet survived until the first half of the 19th century. The last war, in which sailboats took part as the main armed force of the warring parties, was the Crimean. She also showed that the long age of sailing warships was over.