Battery Floating

Battery, Floating. A floating fort, designed especially for the purpose of attacking land defences and only secondarily as a mobile man-of-war. Floating batteries were first used on a large scale by the Spaniards during their grand attack on Gibraltar in 1782. On that occasion ten elaborately contrived batteries were used, their sides being of immense thickness and solidity, and their upper decks covered with turf: but the British red hot shot burnt and blew up nine out of the ten, and the remaining one was boarded and set on fire. During the Russian war of 1854-56 the British Government built eight floating batteries, each carrying fourteen or sixteen guns, with a view to reducing the Sebastopol defences. These were plated with iron, and some were built of iron and some of wood. These were the first ironclads of the British navy, and were modelled after five somewhat similar vessels which were built in France for the same object, but all of wood. The speed of these vessels was inconsiderable, and in no case exceeded about six miles an hour. They were completed too late to be of much use during the war.