O.K. Guys this is an interesting read :geek:
Here is the abstract:
The ships of the three nations that fought at Trafalgar were serving in their navies for
years before the battle. Their ages ranged from few months to over forty years. Their hulls
and masts suffered from high seas and from ferocious combats as most of those ships sailed
across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
Many of these ships were both old comrades and well-fought adversaries that joined in
ports and met at sea in other encounters before Trafalgar. They were engineering
masterpieces that sailed swiftly before and against the wind, with powerful wooden walls
meant to give protection against the heaviest cannon balls. Their designers and builders
include the top creators of wooden ships of 18th century: Slade and Henslow designed 16 of
the British ships; Sané and Rolland built 11 of the best French ships; and Gautier, Romero
Landa and Retamosa constructed the best 12 Spanish ships.
The structures of those hulls are here studied as living creatures that suffered scratches,
illnesses and even gaping wounds, to find treatment and healing at the arsenals. The actual
structures of significant ships of the three nations are analyzed and compared throughout
their life cycles, with respect to their response to sea loads; and representative hull details
are studied with analytical and experimental tools to show the response of the wooden walls
to waves and gunfire. The role of time and sea loads is analyzed and a mechanical model is
proposed to study the effect that treenails and bolts had on the strength of those hulls.
And Here is the link:
http://oa.upm.es/1520/1/PONEN_FRANCISCO_FERNANDEZ_GONZALEZ_01.pdf
Here is the abstract:
The ships of the three nations that fought at Trafalgar were serving in their navies for
years before the battle. Their ages ranged from few months to over forty years. Their hulls
and masts suffered from high seas and from ferocious combats as most of those ships sailed
across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
Many of these ships were both old comrades and well-fought adversaries that joined in
ports and met at sea in other encounters before Trafalgar. They were engineering
masterpieces that sailed swiftly before and against the wind, with powerful wooden walls
meant to give protection against the heaviest cannon balls. Their designers and builders
include the top creators of wooden ships of 18th century: Slade and Henslow designed 16 of
the British ships; Sané and Rolland built 11 of the best French ships; and Gautier, Romero
Landa and Retamosa constructed the best 12 Spanish ships.
The structures of those hulls are here studied as living creatures that suffered scratches,
illnesses and even gaping wounds, to find treatment and healing at the arsenals. The actual
structures of significant ships of the three nations are analyzed and compared throughout
their life cycles, with respect to their response to sea loads; and representative hull details
are studied with analytical and experimental tools to show the response of the wooden walls
to waves and gunfire. The role of time and sea loads is analyzed and a mechanical model is
proposed to study the effect that treenails and bolts had on the strength of those hulls.
And Here is the link:
http://oa.upm.es/1520/1/PONEN_FRANCISCO_FERNANDEZ_GONZALEZ_01.pdf
