Image: HMS Wivern 1865 USNHC NH 52526

Description: Photograph of HMS Wivern (British Turret Ironclad, 1865-1922). At anchor in the Hamoaze River, off Plymouth, England, in 1865. The original print is mounted on a carte de visite. Note the lowered bulwarks abreast her two turrets, hammocks stowed around the turret tops to form rifle pits, and her tripod fore and main masts. She was reportedly the first ship fitted with tripod masts, which eliminated standing rigging, thus increasing the arc of her turrets' gunfire. Ordered by the Confederate States of America government in 1862 as one of two sisters, her true ownership was kept secret under the "cover story" that she was to become an Egyptian warship named El Monassir. Upon delivery to the Confederacy, she was to be named Mississippi. Strong diplomatic pressure by the United States led the British government to seize the two ships in October 1863, while they was fitting out.
Title: HMS Wivern 1865 USNHC NH 52526
Credit: U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH52526 Downloaded from http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/uk/uksh-w/wivern.htm Originally uploaded to EN Wikipedia as en:File:H52526.jpg by en:User:Shimgray 31 May 2006 , modified by en:Allstarecho 22 May 2009.
Author: photographer not identified
Permission: This file is a work of a sailor or employee of the U.S. Navy, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain in the United States.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No