The centre battery ship (UK) or casemate ship (continental navies) was a development of the (high-freeboard) broadside ironclad of the 1860s. The central battery ships had their main guns concentrated in the middle of the ship in an armoured 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 significant broadside. These ships meant the end of the armoured frigates with their full-length gun decks.
In the UK, the man behind the design was the newly appointed Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy, Edward James Reed. The previous Royal Navy ironclad designs, represented by HMS 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 was HMS Bellerophon of 1865. Great Britain built a total of 18 central battery ships before turrets became common on high-freeboard ships in the 1880s.[2]
The 2nd British central battery ship, HMS Hercules, served as model for the Austrian navy, starting with their first design SMS Lissa (6,100 tons) designed by Joseph von Romako and launched in 1871. The Austrian Kaiser—not to be confused with German Kaiser—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) and SMS Erzherzog Albrecht (5,900 tons), which had double-decked casemates; after studying the Battle of Lissa, Romako designed these so more guns could shoot forward. Three older broadside ironclads of the Kaiser Max class (3600 tons: Kaiser Max, Don Juan D'Austria and Prinz Eugen) were also officially "converted" to casemate design, although they were mostly built from scratch. The largest design yet was the SMS Tegetthoff (1878), later renamed to Mars when SMS Tegetthoff was commissioned.[3] The Austrian records distinguish between the category of older broadside ironclads and the newer designs using the words Panzerfregatten (armoured frigates) and respectively Casemattschiffe (casemate ships).[4][5]
The German navy had two large casemate ships (about 8800 tons) of the Kaiser 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 only one casemate ship built, the Venezia, converted from broadside during construction.
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 by turreted warships.
The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited.
The influence of The Graphic within the art world was immense, its many admirers included Vincent Van Gogh, and Hubert von Herkomer.[1]
It continued to be published weekly under this title until 23 April 1932 and then changed title to The National Graphic between 28 April and 14 July 1932; it then ceased publication after 3,266 issues. From 1889 it also published The Daily Graphic.
The Graphic was founded by William Luson Thomas, a successful artist, wood engraver and social reformer. Earlier he, his brother and his brother-in-law had been persuaded to go to New York and assist in launching two newspapers, Picture Gallery and Republic. Thomas also had an engraving establishment of his own and, aided by a large staff, illustrated and engraved numerous standard works.[2] Exasperated, even angered, by the unsympathetic treatment of artists by the world's most successful illustrated paper, The Illustrated London News, and having a good business sense Luson Thomas resolved to set up an opposition. His illustrated paper, despite being more expensive that its competition, became an immediate success.[1]
When it began in 1869, the newspaper was printed in a rented house. By 1882, the company owned three buildings and twenty printing presses, and employed over 1,000 people. The first editor was Henry Sutherland Edwards. A successful artist himself, founder Thomas recruited gifted artists including Luke Fildes, Hubert von Herkomer, Frank Holl, and John Millais.
The Graphic was published on a Saturday and its original cover price was sixpence, while the Illustrated London News was fivepence.[1] In its first year, it described itself to advertisers as "a superior illustrated weekly newspaper, containing twenty-four pages imperial folio, printed on fine toned paper of beautiful quality, made expressly for the purpose and admirably adapted for the display of engravings".
In addition to its home market the paper had subscribers all around the British Empire and North America. The Graphic covered home news and news from around the Empire, and devoted much attention to literature, arts, sciences, the fashionable world, sport, music and opera. Royal occasions and national celebrations and ceremonials were also given prominent coverage.
Artists employed on The Graphic and The Daily Graphic at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century included John Charles Dollman, Helen Allingham, Edmund Blampied,Alexander Boyd, Frank Brangwyn, Randolph Caldecott, James H. Dowd, Harry Furniss, Phil May, Ernest Prater, Leonard Raven-Hill, Sidney Sime, Snaffles (Charles Johnson Payne), George Stampa, Edmund Sullivan, Bert Thomas and F. H. Townsend, Luke Fildes and Henry Woods.
Writers for the paper included George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, H. Rider Haggard and Anthony Trollope. [1] Malcolm Charles Salaman was employed there from 1890 to 1899. Beatrice Grimshawtravelled the South Pacific reporting on her experiences for the "Daily Graphic".[3]
There were at least three pages dedicated to advertising and it is interesting to see the obsession with hygiene, with countless adverts for toothpaste and soap products (and 'miracle-cure' pills).
The Graphic was designed to compete with the famous Illustrated London News (established in 1842), and became its most successful rival. Earlier rivals such as the Illustrated Times and thePictorial Times had either failed to compete or been merged with the ILN. It appealed to the same middle-class readership, but The Graphic, as its name suggests, was intended to use images in a more vivid and striking way than the rather staid ILN. To this end it employed some of the most important artists of the day, making an immediate splash in 1869 with Houseless and Hungry, Luke Fildes' dramatic image of the shivering London poor seeking shelter in a workhouse.
It is much more difficult to produce and print illustrations than type. Improvements in process work and machinery at the end of the 1880s allowed Luson Thomas to realize a long cherished project, a daily illustrated paper.[2]
In 1889, Luson Thomas's company H. R. Baines and Co. commenced publication of the first daily illustrated newspaper in England, which was called The Daily Graphic. This is not to be confused with its American precursor of the same name, which was the first American daily illustrated newspaper, founded in 1873.
Luson Thomas's seventh son George Holt Thomas was a director of the newspaper company and became general manager. Holt Thomas founded The Bystander and later Empire Illustratedbefore abandoning newspapers in 1906 and making a greater name for himself in the aviation industry.[4]
On August 15, 1932 Time Magazine reported the name change to The National Graphic and editor William Comyns Beaumont of The Bystander took over, replacing Alan John Bott.[5]