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English Steam Floating Battery "Glatton" 1856


The inapplicability of large ships of war for the attack of the Russian stone fortresses and strongly fortified harbors, has led to the construction, by the British government, of a large number of floating batteries, some forty in number, which are very shortly to be launched. These vessels are built from one model, and are pierced for ten or twelve guns; except two batteries, the Glatton and the Trusty, which are pierced for sixteen guns.

These floating-batteries are “awkward, but formidable-looking things."

Their dimensions are:

  • Length between the perpendiculars 172' 6"
  • Breadth extreme 43' 8"
  • Depth in hold 11' 7"
  • Draught 7' 9"
  • Tonnage 1469 tons.

    The two decks (the lower one to be the fighting deck) are of 9-inch oak, resting on 10 1/2 in. by 10 1/2 in. beams, placed 1ft. 9in. apart from centre to centre, and supported in the middle by stancheons of iron hinged at the top, so as to be struck or hung up when in action. The frames, iron plates, and planking of the sides form a solid mass 2 feet thick ; the iron plates outside being 4 inch thick, planed on their edges, placed close together, and bolted to the Wood work with 1 inch bolts. The port-holes are 3ft. 4 inch by 2ft. 10 inch, and look much larger than absolutely necessary.

    The engines of these batteries are of 150-horse power, non-condensing, and have tour tubular boilers with two furnaces in each; the boilers being of a cylindrical form, with flat ends, and capable of working up to a very high pressure. These batteries have been fitted with a screw, 6 feet diameter, in the usual place ; but other two, one on each ride, will now be added to give more propelling power; the shallow draught and small area of the screw, in consequence of the necessarily small diameter, rendering this addition necessary for, with a pressure of 60 lb. to the square inch, and the engines making 130 revolutions per minute, the speed attained was but a little over three knots per hour.
    The Glatton, Captain Arthur Cumming, has sailed to the seat of war.

    Notwithstanding the immense sums which have been lavished on these formidable-looking means of warfare, they do not seem to impress the British public with any confidence in their efficiency, either for war purposes or anything else. Hence one of the English papers states ''they will neither sail, steam, stay, nor steer, with satisfaction or dependence; and as quarters for a healthy ship's company, they are certain hot-beds for fever, sickness, or suffocation.”

    Source: 1856 New York Journal