It is unlikely that there are people among modern Russians (although, probably, there are!) Who would not have heard that there is a fantastic submarine ship "Nautilus" in literature (and there was also such a "movie"!), That it belongs to a mysterious unsociable Captain Nemo, and was invented by the 19th century French science fiction writer Jules Verne. And also that this submarine acts in such of his novels as "20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Mysterious Island". But here's what's interesting: did he come up with this submarine himself or did he think about its construction after meeting with some modern floating equipment?
Construction of a cigar ship - engraving.
Money first - let's get creative after!
However, all this is literature, but in real life it was so that in 1843 the Russian government invited two engineers from the American city of Philadelphia to build steam locomotives for the railway from St. Petersburg to Moscow. One was Andrew Eastwick and the other was Joseph Harrison. In addition to them, the chief engineer-consultant of this construction J. W. Whistler recommended inviting Ross Winance from Baltimore. However, even for a lot of money, he refused to go to distant Russia, but instead of himself sent two sons: Thomas Dekay and William Louis Winance. All these Americans excelled in the construction of the road.
Then, in December 1843, the four Americans entered into an agreement with the Russian government to manufacture 200 steam locomotives and 7,000 carriages within five years! The most interesting thing is that the contract provided for their construction here, in Russia, in St. Petersburg, and by the forces of Russian workers!
And what happened in the end? They thwarted this contract, failed to fulfill it? No! They completed it a whole year ahead of schedule and received the money due for it! After that, other agreements began to be concluded with the Wineans company, for example, for the construction of a bridge across the Neva in St. Petersburg from cast iron parts (by the way, it was then the largest such bridge in the world!) And an additional agreement for the maintenance of the entire rolling stock of the constructed road for a period of 12 years (1850 - 1862). Moreover, their personal life was also quite successful. Thus, the sister of Thomas Wynans married in Russia the half-brother of James McNeill Whistler, who in the future became a famous artist, who in those years also lived with his father in St. Petersburg.
When the Hynans returned to the States, fulfilling such a difficult Russian contract with such success, the foundation for their prosperity was more than solid. With the money received for the production of 200 steam locomotives and 7000 carriages, Thomas Wainas built an impressive-sized house in his native Baltimore, which he named in honor of the Russian emperor "Aleksandrovsky", and outside the city he also built a "dacha" "Crimea", where he began to breed thoroughbred horses. Moreover, he gave the “Crimean” house in this “dacha” of his own the name “Oreanda” - that is, apparently, he personally visited us in Crimea, and he made a very strong impression on him. He also took up collecting works of art and (together with his brother) … inventing!
During the Civil War between North and South, Thomas, for example, tried to design a steam cannon. However, the most interesting "invention" of the rich Huaynanases was associated with the sea. They came up with a cigar-shaped ship, capable, in their opinion, of sailing in any, even the most severe storm!
If you have money, it's very easy to invent!
What was their idea? A ship that rises above sea level always shakes strongly, but if it passes through the waves, then it will shake much less. That is, the ship should not rise on the wave, but cut through it, like … like … the modern American "wet" destroyer Zumwalt. They chose the shape of the hull for it in the form of a spindle, calculating that a ship with such a hull would be very strong and it is clear why. Well, if you have money, then any whim is within your power. And, believing in themselves, from 1858 to 1866, the brothers built at least four "cigar ships", which surprised the whole world. In 1858, the first experimental prototype appeared to test the viability of the project. Its body was in the shape of a Manila cigar, that is, it was sharpened on both sides. Two steam engines worked on one propeller, located … not just anywhere, but in the middle of the hull! During the movement, their ship had to be mostly under water, so bad weather, according to the brothers, would not affect it as much as an ordinary high-board ship. Two engines were installed to improve reliability.
One of the projects of the cigar ship. As can be seen from the diagram, on the water he would have the appearance of a very small steamer.
Also, the ship had two pipes, two masts and a control post between the pipes, located on the casing of the propeller splash guard. Everyone who saw this ship made a strong impression. But the very first tests on water showed that a project on paper is one thing, but a real design is something completely different! The fact is that a huge propeller rotating around the ship's hull sharply reduced its streamlining, and not even so much the propeller itself as a splash guard that covered it from above. Although without this device, due to the fountains of water gushing from under the rotating propeller, it was absolutely impossible to be on the deck of this ship! Well, how could you go from the bow of the ship to the stern, because the hull was divided into two halves by the propeller? To do this, it was necessary to go down into the hold, where there was a through passage for the passage. Agree that every time moving from bow to stern in this way is completely inconvenient.
Front view.
"I was aboard this monster!"
A certain George Harding, an American officer of the twenty-first regiment of volunteers in Indiana, left his memoirs in which he wrote that he met this famous ship while his unit was camped on the banks of the river. The curiosity of him and the other officers was so great that they got into the boat and sailed to inspect it. And this is what he later wrote: “In the company of some of our officers, I had the pleasure of visiting this ship, which was built entirely of iron, plates about a centimeter in thickness, and had a hull three hundred feet long. The "propeller" (propeller), twenty-six feet in diameter, revolved exclusively around the hull at the junction of the two sections, slightly ahead of the center. The wheel … was a bit like a windmill. " "It was dirty and hot inside, and going in there was like crawling into a hollow log." On board he was told that it has a speed of twenty miles per hour, and so far the ship is only being tested and therefore not armed.
Appearance of the splash guard casing.
"Ships-cigars" start and … lose!
It immediately became clear to everyone that this was not a passenger or cargo ship, but an ideal weapon for war! After all, military sailors are not at all up to comfort - they will somehow endure this too. After all, they are floating on monitors ?! But such a ship will be little vulnerable to enemy projectiles, because the target is very small. But attempts to use these vessels for military purposes also failed.
It turned out that "cigar ships" have poor maneuverability, and besides, they cannot be booked, since only that part of their hull that protruded above the waterline above the waterline can be booked. But the weight of the armor turned out to be much higher than the center of gravity of the vessel, so its booking led to the fact that it simply overturned on its side. In addition, the terrible tightness inside was depressing. The test participants then wrote: "I had to get inside as if into a tight, stuffy hole."
Ross Wynas. The first ship of this type, launched, was named after him.
"Battle cigars" for the Russian Empire.
The case in the States did not work out for the Wynance brothers, and then they remembered about Russia, and turned their eyes here. And not just "converted", but in 1865 even one such ship was built, in the hope of selling it to the military department of Alexander II. The ship passed several test voyages, but our sailors did not like it either for its speed or maneuverability. Another ship of the same type, the Walter Wineans, was built by the brothers in Le Havre in 1865. However, it was already significantly different from the original model. First of all, the dimensions of the vessel were greatly increased, which led to improved habitability, but most importantly, two screws were installed at the ends of the hull, and not in the middle. At the same time, they rotated in different directions, which destroyed their influence on the list of the ship.
Construction of a cigar ship - photo.
Well, in 1861, the brothers prepared projects for three gunboats for the Russian fleet at once: one with a displacement of 500 tons, with two bombing guns on the upper deck, the second in 1000 already with three such guns, and the last, in 3000 tons, was supposed to have six guns, which should have been between her pipes.
The brothers calculated that at 21 feet in length, the smallest gunboat would have a cruising speed of 22 knots. The chimneys were supposed to be telescopic, which would reduce the visibility of these vessels, as well as the target area, even in case of head-to-head contact. The screws were no longer to be in the extremities, but under them. The shafts passed through the entire ship. The guns were arranged in such a way that they could be lowered into special "nests" under the deck, which were covered from above by armor shields. Only the upper superstructure protruded above the surface. Again, in theory, these should have been good ships. But all three developments in metal were not implemented in this way. Cause? It is obvious that with the state of the art achieved at that time, these vessels will not have any advantages over the same monitors.
But, since one of these ships was nevertheless built in France, Jules Verne could well have learned about him, see his images and, looking at them, could well have been inspired and … write the novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", published in light 1870.
The drawings of the cannon gunboats of Ross Winans.
Interestingly, such ships can be potentially interesting today, even if only purely hypothetically. What is the main goal of many modern warship designers? Reduce their radar signature to the limit! Well, this is just a project for them! We take a small ship-like superstructure, put it on a drop-shaped column with elevators inside, and already under it … under it we will have something like a modern nuclear submarine, but with different strength requirements. That is, she will not need to dive to 500 m, which means the hull will be lighter and cheaper. Ascending, such a ship will raise the superstructure with radars above the masts of the enemy ship, and once it is submerged, it will immediately turn into a barely visible target, both visually and on the radar. However, hardly anyone today dares to invest in such a ship, even if its advantages are obvious. Its design is too unusual and it will have to include too many new solutions.
