Turret

“ The groans of the stricken, the crash of steel against steel, the roar of the turret-guns, the rattling chorus of quick-fire rifles, and the drumming of heavy shells against the armor and turrets made an uproarious riot of sound over which no man above the water-line could lift his voice. ”

“ The men who manned the guns in that revolving turret must all have died in a flash of time. The impact of the blow was such that the leaden solder which filled the interstices of the segments of the turret was squeezed out from between the plates in curly strips, like icing from between the layers of a misused birthday cake.
Back within the main works we saw where a shell had bored a smooth, round orifice through eight meters of earth and a meter and a half of concrete and steel plates. Peering into the shaft we could make out the floor of a tunnel some thirty feet down. ”

“ Some stationed themselves on top of the turret, and a general enthusiasm filled all breasts, as huge waves, twenty feet high, rose up on all sides, hung suspended for a moment like jaws open to devour, and then, breaking, gnashed over in foam from side to side. Those of us new to the sea, and not appreciating our peril, hurrahed for the largest wave; but the captain and one or two others, old sailors, knowing its power, grew momentarily more and more anxious, feeling, with a dread instinctive to the sailor, that, in case of extremity, no wreck yet known to ocean could be so hopeless as this. ”

“ Armored belt and fixed turret, twin screws, no sail power. The turret is dome-shaped, with a small dome-shaped armored pilot-house on its after-end. The sides of the turret curve into a steep glacis, which is carried out nearly to the side of the ship, the deck in wake of the turret being merely a narrow platform for passing fore and aft without difficulty. The single heavy gun is worked on a turn-table in five ports for all-around fire. ”

“ But why do death and dying obtrude themselves at the present moment? On the turret opposite, about the distance of a gun-shot, is as pretty a sight as eye could wish to see. Two young people, strangers apparently, have come to visit the ruin. Neither the ballad queen, nor the shoemaker down yonder, whose respirations are getting shorter and shorter, touches them in the least. They are merry and happy, and the gray-beard turret has not the heart to thrust a foolish moral upon them. ”

“ Bigge and I got through the back of our 9.2 turret—the for'ard starboard one just under the projecting end of the fore bridge—and when we'd reported everything 'cleared away' and had filled our 'ready' rack with more shells, we climbed out of the sighting-hood and squatted on top of the turret, whilst they trained it for'ard and aft as far as it would go and raised and lowered the long gun, to test the hydraulic machinery. ”

“ We ascended the rough stone steps through a winding stair to the turrets, where we had such a view of the surrounding country, as can be obtained from no other place. On the top of the centre and highest turret, is a grotesque figure of a fiddler; rather a strange looking object, we thought, to occupy the most elevated pinnacle on the house of God. All dwellings in the neighbourhood appear like so many dwarfs couching at the feet of the Minster; while its own vastness and beauty impress the observer with feelings of awe and sublimity. ”

“ With turret-guns the sights are placed on top of the turret. Each turret is provided with a number of man-holes large enough to admit the head and shoulders. For each man-hole a pair of sights is adjusted, the line of sight being parallel to the axis of the gun. In some turrets, in order to prevent exposure, mirrors are arranged so that these sights may be used by persons in the turret.
The wood scale is a wooden bar used in connection with marks on the rear face of the cascabel. ”

“ Monitor rams. These vessels have a low freeboard, the single turret being on the forward third of the hull, surrounded by a casemate, which also covers the lower part of the smoke-stack. A superstructure rises forward and aft of the turret and is semi-cylindrical, curving at the ends in such a manner as to give no foothold on any part. The turret is surmounted by a barbette lookout. The hulls are of wood and heavily strengthened at the ram. ”

“ Curiosity led them towards the turret, when they were charmed by the most exquisite sounds ever emitted by a fiddle-string, which, joined to the sportive mirth and glee accompanying it, reconciled them in a great measure to the scene, although they knew well enough the inhabitants were fairies. Nay, overpowered by the enchanting jigs played by the fiddler, one of the brothers had even the hardihood to propose that they should pay the occupants of the turret a short visit. ”

“ The men who fight the gun have ample standing room in the turret, which, when it is desired to train it in any direction, is moved by a double set of winches, outside and inside, which, in the case of the smaller turrets, can be worked by as few as four men, though there is room for double that number if required. ”

“ The turret is caused to revolve to the right or left, by the movement of a small wheel which controls the action of the steam, and is turned by the gunner or his assistants, and a scale is provided by which the elevation of the guns is also adjusted. When ready for firing, the shutter is triced up by the gunner, the piece is run out, fired, and instantly returns by the recoil, a friction clamp upon the sides of the ways arresting it at any desired point. On this side of the turret is an additional thickness of iron plating of sbout 3 inches. ”

“ The Admiralty constructors were insistent on the practical difficulties which lay in the way of designing a satisfactory sea-going turret ship. The advantages which had been claimed for turrets were obvious, said Sir Edward Reed; the larger and heavier the individual gun, the greater the gain of mounting it in a turret. But enthusiastic advocates of this method lost sight of the fact that turrets were incompatible with masts and sails, and with the forecastle and high freeboard necessary for good sea-going qualities. ”

“ In each turret is a fireplace—a comfort [384] to the warders, and useful at a pinch for heating the supplies of oil and lead which could be poured down through the machicolations on the heads of a too assiduous foe. From turret to turret, and projecting somewhat over these machicolations, runs a loopholed gallery, and here, too, the vaulting and the rich brick mouldings are better than anything else of the kind in England, with the exception of the smaller but elaborately enriched wall surfaces of Barsham, near Walsingham in Norfolk. ”

“ A beautiful hit, indeed, was that into a small hooded aperture where an observer looked out from a turret. He was killed and another man took his place. Fresh armour and no sign of where the shot had struck. Then below, into a compartment between the side of the ship and the armoured barbette which protects the delicate machinery for feeding shells and powder from the magazine deep below the water to the guns. ”

“ What remains is 89ft. in length, by 67ft. in width, rising boldly into the air, slightly sloping inwards as it rises, to give a greater idea of height, until its turret parapets are found to be 112ft. from the ground; while its massive walls, the eastern one 16ft. thick at the base, are in keeping with its large proportions. The variety of outline in the well-set windows, the shadow-casting angle turrets, and the massive machicolations, all serve to relieve the structure of monotony. ”

“ Seen from above, she looked wonderfully like those deck-plan drawings which I had studied in the naval annuals. Forward was the new type of 3-gun turret, with its long, lean 14-inch guns looking for all the world like Brobdingnagian lead pencils. ”

“ The framing is very strong and on the longitudinal principle, and the keel is formed of Bessemer steel. Each turret is 24 ft. 3 in. in internal diameter, and is built with five layers of teak and iron. Beginning at the inside, there is a lining of 25⁄8 in. iron plates; then 6 in. of teak in iron frames, arranged horizontally; 6 in. of armour plates; 9 in. of teak, placed vertically; outside of all, 8 in. armour plates. Each turret carries two Fraser 35–ton guns, rifled muzzle-loaders. The turrets revolve by hand or by steam-power. ”

“ The protection afforded to the battery by a circular turret having the form best suited to deflect projectiles, the employment of machinery to point the guns by the rotation of the turret, the protection to motive power, to anchoring apparatus, etc., all presented admirable points of advantage, but the almost perfect immersion of the hull, and the absence of motion due to the great stability, are the essential features in the construction. ”

“ A few minutes afterward a terrific explosion occurred in the second magazine. Both our guns were then right back on their slides and out of action. The general opinion was that the whole turret had been unseated by the German salvo. The officer of the turret told me that the ship was sinking rapidly and that I was to get the turret crew out as quickly as possible, which I did. The officer then told me to carry out the usual routine: 'Every man for himself.' I left the turret through the hatch on the top and found the ship was lying on her side. ”

“ The turret itself is fixed, the gun firing over it “en barbette.” The turn-table is mounted on sixteen conical rollers, and is revolved by means of a fixed rack, to which gears a pinion worked by a crank attachment on the slide. This attachment consists of a horizontal axle revolving in bearings through the rear of the slide-plates, having a crank at each end and a chain-wheel in the middle. An endless chain transmits the [Pg 233] motion to gearing at the forward end of the slide, which connects with the rack on the floor of the turret. ”

“ The drill and working of these guns is magnificent. Nearly everything in the fore-turret is worked by steam and hydraulic power, so that comparatively few men are required to move the iron monsters. Let me ask you to imagine the men at their stations. Some are inside the turret, and as guns and turret move in concert the men inside move with them. Those outside the turret stand at its base, and are therefore below the iron deck and protected by the iron sides of the ship. The insiders revolve, aim, and fire the gun; the outsiders load. ”

“ After a turret lathe is equipped with the tools needed for machining a certain part, it produces the finished work much more rapidly than would be possible by using an ordinary engine lathe, principally because each tool is carefully set for turning or boring to whatever size is required and the turret makes it possible to quickly place any tool in the working position. Turret lathes also have systems of stops or gages for controlling the travel of the turret carriage and cross-slide, in order to regulate the depth of a bored hole, the length of a cylindrical part or its diameter ”

“ This alone preserves the remains of a turret above the battlements. Excepting the stair-turret, the angles of the keep seem solid below, though worked into chambers on the first floor.
There are also projections on the west and south wall. That on the west has a depth of 12 feet, and a breadth of 18 feet. The lower story is broken away; it was hollow, and looks as though meant for a gigantic cesspit. The upper part hangs unsupported save by the cohesion of its cement, and greatly needs conservation. This turret is about 51 feet from the north end, and 31 feet from the south. ”

“ The superstructure abaft the turret is musket-proof, of a width just sufficient to permit the guns to get stern-fire. The upper part expands into a flying deck, with a low musket-proof shield, and corner stands for Hotchkiss machine-guns. ”

“ There is a gentle slope of the sides from the water's edge to the base of the turret, so that any other shot than a plunging one would be glanced off. As the ships have not yet been tried in battle, their advantages are only theoretical. ”

“ But in neither of these instances was the gun in a turret. The turret276 idea, like so many other inventions, had an independent development in Europe and in America. In each case war supplied the incentive. In America, in ’62, Ericsson himself produced in a national emergency the Monitor, the low, shallow-draft armoured vessel carrying two 11-inch Dahlgren guns in a steam-rotated turret which served to counter the Southern Merrimac, the rasée with the fixed penthouse armour roof over its guns which the Confederates had built by the light of French experience. ”

“ Moreover, the turret involved additional weight, while the barbette permitted a higher position for the gun, which at sea is a considerable advantage. When a gun is not many feet above the water there is a liability of projectiles striking crests of waves near the ship and being deflected from the path required. ”

“ Meanwhile the captain of the turret gives the order, ‘Starboard (or port) loading position,’ turns the turret until the gun is opposite its ‘loading-hole,’ and then depresses its muzzle to the same point, jams it against the hole, and the turret is ‘locked.’
“‘Sponge and load,’ is now given—but not by Stentor. The forces at work are too great in some cases to be left to the uncertain human voice. A piece of mechanism, called a ‘tell-tale,’ communicates with infallible certainty that the monster is quite ready to feed! ”

“ Swan-breasted ram bow, pointed stern, single screw, three-quarter sail-power. Armored belt encircling the water-line [Pg 15] to the height of the upper-deck beams. Tripod fore-mast with the single turret just abaft it. No direct bow-fire on account of a topgallant forecastle, and no direct stern-fire from the turret owing to a poop-cabin. Light, unprotected poop-guns secure fire in this direction. Drop-rail in wake of the turret. Armored pilot-house just abaft turret. ”