HMS Agamemnon by Caldercraft

[iutar]

Iutar : question .... ???? See photo.

Mark, I still don't understand the question. Are you saying that my words don't match the photos I showed?


You have to look very closely. The copper sheets don't extend under the rudder hinges. This is visible only under very high magnification.



It seems, I repeat, "seems," that the copper sheets in this area are solid. In fact, they are cut pieces, carefully fitted to the hinges. The hinges are powerful, forged bronze components, deeply embedded in the wood. Copper sheets cannot even theoretically be passed under the hinges.

In model kits, the hinges are thin strips of brass. In reality, the hinges were very strong components, deeply set into the wood. The copper sheathing in model kits, on the other hand, is thick copper compared to the actual sheets, which should be like foil. In reality, it was not the slightest difficulty for shipwrights to carefully cut and fit thin copper to any part of the ship's bottom.

 

[iutar]

If you really want to get to the bottom of this issue, things are even more complicated and simpler at the same time.

In addition, there was another way to solve the problem of contact between the rudder hinges and the copper sheets of the teredo\shipworm protection.

I repeat once again that we do not understand that in reality the hinges were large and powerful, and were installed long before the copper sheathing work began. Copper sheets, on the other hand, are thin and pliable.

So, the second method involves covering the rudder hinges with copper sheets on the outside, like a carpet. The hinges were covered with copper sheets and carefully compressed around all protrusions, corners, and bolts to ensure there were no voids.
In the previous photos, I showed bare rudder hinges. Now I'll show photos where the rudder hinges and hooks are covered with copper sheets. This is done to protect the joints shown in the previous photos.
The most famous example of copper sheathing laid over hinges and hooks is... the famous HMS Victory!



Here are some more examples, from a museum in Madrid (if I'm not mistaken). Take a closer look: the copper sheets are laid in such a way that they cover the rudder hinges.