29-624: Captain Cowper Phipps Coles CB (1819 – 7 September 1870), was an English naval captain with the Royal Navy . Coles was also an inventor ; in 1859, he was the first to patent a design for a revolving gun turret . Upon appealing for public support, his turrets were installed on HMS Prince Albert and HMS Royal Sovereign . Coles died in a maritime accident in 1870 when HMS Captain , an experimental warship built to his designs, capsized and sank with him on board. The son of
58-457: A flat deck. The ship was also to be fitted with 5.5 inches (140 mm) of armour in a belt around the waterline. HMS Royal Sovereign was completed in August 1864, ahead of Prince Albert . Like Prince Albert it had only minimal sails intended to steady the ship rather than drive it along at any speed. The low freeboard was countered by hinged sections increasing the height of the sides above
87-458: A long 32-pounder gun and because of its small draft could be moved into shallow water from where it was used to attack Russian government stores in Taganrog . Coles became a hero for this action, when the press correspondent on board Stromboli reported his daring deeds. Coles expanded the idea by drawing up plans for a better raft, mounting a gun enclosed within a hemispherical shield. Admiral Lyons
116-473: A long-time advocate of turret-mounted armament, had produced a proposal in 1859 which, while not being accepted as produced, formed the basis for the design concept of Prince Albert . Freeboard was fixed at seven feet (2.1 m) to ensure adequate stability, while affording the armament a command at least comparable to that obtained in contemporary broadside ironclads . The armament was disposed in four armoured turrets, each containing one heavy gun and each on
145-576: A new design. This was to be based upon the existing HMS Pallas designed by the new Chief Constructor, Edward Reed . The Admiralty provided the original plans of the ship plus Joseph Scullard, constructor at Portsmouth dockyard, to assist. The resulting single turret design was rejected, but the Admiralty instructed Reed to create a larger version with two turrets which became HMS Monarch , laid down in 1866 and completed in June 1869. Coles complained at
174-413: A revolving turret and Ericsson claimed the idea of a revolving protected gun was an old one. The Times suggested that Marc Brunel had given Coles the idea. Coles' design aim was to create a ship with the greatest possible all round arc of fire, as low in the water as possible to minimise the target. This proved to be a weakness in designs he created, because he was unwilling to compromise these aims for
203-475: A turret through 360 degrees in about a minute. Prince Albert was commissioned at Portsmouth and was almost immediately withdrawn from service for trials and alterations, which lasted until 1867. She passed thereafter into the first division, Devonport Reserve. She formed part of the Particular Service Squadron formed in August 1878, after which she remained in reserve. She was re-commissioned for
232-577: Is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy . It ranks above commander and below commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a colonel in the British Army and Royal Marines , and to a group captain in the Royal Air Force . There are similarly named equivalent ranks in the navies of many other countries. In the Royal Navy, the officer in command of any warship of
261-649: The siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War against the Russian Empire . On 13 November 1854 promoted to commander and on 2 August 1856 was commanding officer of the paddle boat Stromboli in the Black Sea . It was during the Siege of Taganrog that he and other British naval officers and sailors constructed a 45-foot (14 m) raft named Lady Nancy from twenty-nine casks lashed together with spars. The raft supported
290-417: The Admiralty agreed to construct a ship, HMS Prince Albert , which had four turrets and a low freeboard, intended only for coastal defence. Coles was allowed to design the turrets, but the ship was the responsibility of the chief Constructor Isaac Watts . Coles had another proposal, to take an existing timber ship, remove its upper decks and existing broadside guns and replace them with four turrets on
319-463: The Board of Admiralty was split. Eventually the Board agreed to pay for the construction of a ship, although this was to be supervised by Coles himself in an Admiralty-approved yard; Laird Brothers agreed to build her. Plans for HMS Captain were submitted to the Admiralty as would be normal, but Reed declined to 'approve' them, instead marking all drawings 'not objected to'. He eventually resigned over
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#1732852655720348-485: The Channel fleet and successfully weathered a gale. Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Symmonds commanding commented favorably on both Captain and Monarch . Captain achieved 14.25 knots (26.39 km/h; 16.40 mph), compared to Monarch ' s 14.9 knots (27.6 km/h; 17.1 mph) under steam, but with smaller engines. Under sail, Captain was faster. All in all, she was hailed as a vindication of Coles' ideas. In August,
377-467: The Reverend John Coles and his wife Mary Ann Goodhew Rogers, Cowper Phipps Coles entered the Royal Navy at the age of eleven. On 9 January 1846, he was promoted to lieutenant and on 5 December 1849 posted to Phaeton commanded by George Augustus Elliot. On 24 October 1853, he was posted to Agamemnon as flag lieutenant for his uncle, Rear Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons . He distinguished himself at
406-564: The affair in July 1870, two months before the disaster. Construction commenced in January 1867. Captain was designed to have a freeboard of only 8 feet (2.4 m), but owing to mistakes in construction leading to increased weight, the ship eventually floated 14 inches (360 mm) lower in the water. She had a full set of sails and the highest masts in the navy. She was completed in January 1870, and initial trials were successful. In May, she accompanied
435-428: The centre-line. The guns carried were the heaviest and most powerful available at the time, the 9-inch (230 mm) calibre muzzle-loading rifle . The absence of a poop and forecastle limited the activity of the ship in rough weather, but allowed end-on fire over the bow and stern from the end turrets. Unlike the turrets in the contemporary American monitors , the turrets were rotated by hand; eighteen men could turn
464-474: The deck; these were dropped down to allow the guns to fire. Coles later took command of Royal Sovereign for the July 1867 Naval Review . While these ships were building, Coles made further proposals which the Admiralty resisted pending completion of the trial ships already under construction. However, once Royal Sovereign was completed and had received favourable reports, he requested Admiralty assistance in creating
493-447: The disaster after midnight on the night of 6 September. It emerged that the ship had a maximum righting moment at an angle of heel around 18 degrees. If she was pushed over beyond this angle, the moment declined. By contrast, Monarch had a maximum restoring force at an angle of 40 degrees, so that any heel up to this limit would always meet increasing resistance. In 1856, Coles married Emily Pearson, niece of Admiral Lord Lyons . Coles
522-466: The inclusion of a forecastle and poop which prevented the guns firing fore and aft, and the high position of the guns 17 feet (5.2 m) above water level, but his objections were dismissed. Reed maintained the features were all intended to improve seaworthiness. Coles once again resorted to appealing to public opinion to obtain support for a ship more closely in accord with his design ideas. The civilian First Lord remained agreeable to his plans, although
551-592: The more junior Army and Royal Marines rank , and in naval contexts, as a "four-ring captain" (referring to the uniform lace) to avoid confusion with the title of a seagoing commanding officer. In the Ministry of Defence , and in joint service establishments, a captain may be referred to as a "DACOS" (standing for deputy assistant chief of staff) or an "AH" (assistant head), from the usual job title of OF5-ranked individuals who work with civil servants. The rank insignia features four rings of gold braid with an executive curl in
580-464: The practical necessities of sailing ships' rigging, decks sufficiently high to be clear of heavy seas and other necessary superstructures which restricted the guns' rotation. The Admiralty accepted the principle of the turret gun as a useful innovation, and incorporated it into other new designs. However, they could not accept his other ideas on ship design. Coles submitted a design for a ship having ten domed turrets each housing two large guns. The design
609-494: The raft could be built. On 27 February 1856, Coles was made captain. He was placed on half pay after the war ended and spent his time creating designs for turret ships. Up to this time the principal armament of warships had been batteries of guns firing from fixed ports in the sides of the ship. On 10 March 1859 he filed a patent for a revolving turret, although it is not clear how he came by the idea. The American USS Monitor , constructed by John Ericsson in 1861, incorporated
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#1732852655720638-452: The rank of commander and below is informally referred to as "the captain" on board, even though holding a junior rank, but formally is titled "the commanding officer" (or CO). Until the nineteenth century, Royal Navy officers who were captains by rank and in command of a naval vessel were referred to as post-captains ; this practice is now defunct. Captain (D) or Captain Destroyers, afloat,
667-487: The ship sailed again with Coles on board. The weather deteriorated, and again she had to face a gale. This time, however, the wind was gusting and unpredictable. Extensive rigging had been necessary to make the ship oceangoing. This forced the creation of a "hurricane deck" above the turrets, which increasingly caught the wind as she heeled over. This may have been instrumental in Captain ' s tragic capsize . Coles perished in
696-424: The upper ring. When in mess dress or mess undress, officers of the rank of captain and above wear gold-laced trousers (the trousers are known as "tin trousers", and the gold lace stripes thereon are nicknamed "lightning conductors"), and may wear the undress tailcoat (without epaulettes). HMS Prince Albert (1864) HMS Prince Albert was designed and built as a shallow-draught coast-defence ship, and
725-602: Was an operational appointment commanding a destroyer flotilla or squadron , and there was a corresponding administrative appointment ashore, until at least a decade after the Second World War . The title was probably used informally up until the abolition of frigate and destroyer squadrons with the Fleet FIRST reorganisation circa 2001. Ashore, the rank of captain is often verbally described as "captain RN" to distinguish it from
754-405: Was himself a nephew, by marriage, of Admiral Lord Lyons, his mother being the sister of Augusta, Lyons' wife. A son was Sherard Osborn Cowper-Coles , metallurgist and inventor of the sherardising process of galvanisation . Coles was also an artist. The National Maritime Museum has a number of his watercolors and sells prints of some of them. Captain (Royal Navy) Captain ( Capt )
783-515: Was impressed with the ideas and Coles was sent to London to present his ideas to the Admiralty . Plans were prepared for 90-by-30-foot (27.4 by 9.1 m) rafts with a draught of 3 feet 7 inches (1.09 m) which would be used to attack the Kronstadt forts. The rafts would be able to approach through shallow waters not protected by the fort guns. Unfortunately for Coles, the war ended before
812-462: Was rejected as impractical, although the Admiralty remained interested in turret ships and instructed its own designers to create better designs. Coles submitted his plans to anyone who might be interested and succeeded in enlisting a number of supporters, including Prince Albert , who wrote to the first Lord of the Admiralty, the Duke of Somerset, supporting the construction of a turret ship. In January 1862,
841-580: Was the first British warship designed to carry her main armament in turrets. The ship was named after Prince Albert , the late husband of Queen Victoria . At her wish, Prince Albert remained on the "active" list until 1899, a total of 33 years, by which time she had long ceased to be of any military value. The Board of Admiralty , in coming to decisions on the structure and dimensions of this ship, were faced with conflicting demands for stability, armour, gun-power, rig, speed and range. Captain Cowper Coles ,
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