Bombards and Battleships.

[MikeH]

At that time we were the major naval power and were maintaining our fleet at the size of 'bigger than the two other biggest navies on the planet" (in case we had to fight them both). We were also protecting seas/territories from the far east to north america. Much as the US does now.

I wonder what current US naval spending would be as a percentage of UK government spending.

I can't find figures for just the navy but the total US military budget is about $419 billion and the UK total tax revenue is about £420 billion which is $750 billion.

So... at a guess if the UK wanted to have similar naval power today as it did back in 1870 we'd still have to be spending a high percentage of tax revenue...

[Hauptman]

Yeh it was wikipedia that gave me that quote, Under "battleship" "dreadnaught" etc....

[potoroo]

Originally posted by Hauptman
Warship technology was advancing so rapidly from 1865-1906 that new battleships were often rendered obsolete within a few years of construction. This created a huge financial strain - by 1870, the British government was spending a staggering 37% of its annual national budget on the construction of new battleships.

That was because the during the Industrial Revolution the British kept building Workshops on top of their Cottages.

[Lord Avalon]

Originally posted by Hauptman
Steel is refined iron. Iron is soft and very susceptible to corrosion. An iron sword would bend under any stress, even under its own weight. But when you hammered out all the carbon and turned it into steel it became MUCH stronger.

"Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. Carbon acts as a hardening agent, preventing iron atoms, which are naturally arranged in a crystal lattice, from sliding past one another (dislocation)"