Talk:USS Katahdin (1893)

Event 250?
"embodied several new features later used in early submarines" Such as? TREKphiler  hit me ♠  18:51, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

"Her hull embodied several new features later used in early submarines." That line is from the DANFS entry on Katahdin http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/k2/katahdin-ii.htm The Navy historian did not elaborate. From what I have read, USS Katahdin (steel armored ram) of the US Navy is similar to the HMS Polyphemus (ironclad torpedo ram) of the Royal Navy. Basically the hulls of rams were engineered less like conventional surface ships and used features more like the hulls of later submarines. The ram hull was kept about 80% or more submerged to present as small a target as possible to gunfire, made water tight to prevent being swamped by shell splashes or ship wakes, and used jettisonable ballast and bouyancy chambers to prevent sinking in case of battle damage. The CSS David was a much smaller, earlier interation of similar ideas. Naaman Brown (talk) 16:52, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Lengthy and detailed technical discussion and specifications published 1896
Anyone interested in expanding this will find "Contract and Screw Trials of the U.S.S. Kathadin", Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, v.8, February, 1896, pages 1—20, useful. The first pages discuss the origins of what was initially Harbor Defense Ram No. 1. That is followed by pages of discussion, tables and drawings detailing the design and functions of the vessel. 71.163.32.29 (talk) 16:44, 17 May 2019 (UTC)