Thecentral battery ship, also known as acentre battery ship in theUnited Kingdom and as acasemate ship in European continental navies, was a development of the (high-freeboard)broadside ironclad of the 1860s, given a substantial boost due to the inspiration gained from theBattle of Hampton Roads, the first battle betweenironclads fought in 1862 during theAmerican Civil War. One of the participants was theConfederatecasemate ironcladCSS Virginia, essentially a central battery ship herself, albeit a low-freeboard one. The central battery ships had their main guns concentrated in the middle of the ship in anarmoured citadel.[1] The concentration of armament amidships meant the ship could be shorter and handier than a broadside type like previous warships. In this manner the design could maximize the thickness ofarmour in a limited area while still carrying a significantbroadside. These ships meant the end of thearmoured frigates with their full-length gun decks.
In the UK, the man behind the design was the newly appointed Chief Constructor of theRoyal Navy,Edward James Reed. The previous Royal Navy ironclad designs, represented byHMS Warrior, had proven to be seaworthy, fast under power and sail, but their armour could be easily penetrated by more modern guns. The first central battery ship wasHMS Bellerophon of 1865. Great Britain built a total of 18 central battery ships beforeturrets became common on high-freeboard ships in the 1880s.[2]
The second British central battery ship,HMS Hercules, served as model for the Austrian navy, starting with their first designSMS Lissa (6,100 tons) designed byJosef von Romako and launched in 1871. The AustrianSMS Kaiser—not to be confused with GermanKaiser—was built along a similar design, although the hull had been converted from a wooden ship, and it was slightly smaller (5,800 tons). The Austrian central battery design was pushed further withSMS Custoza (7,100 tons) andSMS Erzherzog Albrecht (5,900 tons), which had double-decked casemates; after studying theBattle of Lissa, Romako designed these so more guns could shoot forward. Three older broadside ironclads of theKaiser Max class (3600 tons:Kaiser Max,Don Juan D'Austria andPrinz Eugen) were also officially "converted" to casemate design, although they were mostly built from scratch. The largest design yet wasTegetthoff, later renamed toMars when the newdreadnought battleshipTegetthoff was commissioned.[2][3] The Austrian records distinguish between the category of older broadside ironclads and the newer designs using the wordsPanzerfregatten (armoured frigates) and respectivelyCasemattschiffe (casemate ships).[4][5]
TheImperial Russian Navy had built one central battery ironclad,Kniaz Pozharsky (Russian: Князь Пожарский), in 1864. It carried eight Obukhov 9-inch (229 mm)breech-loading guns, and was the first Russian armoured ship to venture out to the Pacific.
The German navy had two large casemate ships (about 8800 tons) of theKaiser class built in UK shipyards.[6] The first ironclad of the Greek navy,Vasilefs Georgios (1867), was also built in the UK; at 1700 tons, it was a minimalist casemate design having only two large 9in guns, and two small 20-pounders. The Italians had three casemate ships built,Venezia, converted from broadside during construction, and the twoPrincipe Amedeo-class ironclads.[7] Chile also bought two from the United Kingdom:Blanco Encalada andAlmirante Cochrane.
The disadvantage of the centre-battery was that, while more flexible than the broadside, each gun still had a relatively restricted field of fire and few guns could fire directly ahead. The centre-battery ships were soon succeeded byturreted warships.
