How , large could someone make a ship with period materials, but modern knowledge of shipbuilding and naval architecture etc., or rather how many guns could a ship carry and still be relatively fast say about 15 knots
I am led to believe this comes down almost entirely to hull design
Posts:5376 Joined: July 27th, 2010, 3:02 am
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In the world of traditional sailing 15kt is drag-racing fast. You might be able to achieve it in a large frigate. A ship of the line would be lucky to achieve six.
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Posts:7510 Joined: July 28th, 2010, 12:25 pm
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also, the amount of guns is exactly the factor this ship would have to be based on. in the age of sail, the privateers were able to fight off merchants, but were too fast to be catched by a frigate. a frigate would not stand a chance against a ship of the line, but was fast enough to outmanoeuvre and outrun it. an ship of the line could deal an massive blow, but would have been to slow to catch the before 2 in a 1vs1 fight.
for the limits on sailing ship designs, you should look at the last wooden clippers. those were the limit to what was possible with those materials, both in size and in speed.
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Posts:5376 Joined: July 27th, 2010, 3:02 am
Location: Aalborg, Denmark
Well actually, the clippers were composite ships. Iron keels and frames with wooden planking.
Also, cross bracing was invented in the early parts of the 19th century which is why the Jylland is 20m longer than the Victory, despite the fact that they're build using the same materials.
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Posts:7510 Joined: July 28th, 2010, 12:25 pm
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the last wooden clippers. or in other words, the early clippers, before iron came into use
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Posts:5376 Joined: July 27th, 2010, 3:02 am
Location: Aalborg, Denmark
acelanceloet wrote:
the last wooden clippers. or in other words, the early clippers, before iron came into use
But they wouldn't have been strong enough to carry anything heavier than a token handful of insurance guns
With iron framing you might be able to carry a few useful guns on a clipper type ship.
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Posts:7510 Joined: July 28th, 2010, 12:25 pm
Location: the netherlands
correct. which brings us back at what I said earlier: you can have the guns or the speed, not both we are really speeking the same language here thiel
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