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The SS Great Britain was the first iron ship, the first to have a balanced rudder and watertight bulkheads and the first propeller driven ship to cross any ocean. Launched in 1843 by Prince Albert it was the world's biggest ship by far. The engine crankshaft of The Great Britain was too big for any forge to make it. To overcome this, the steam hammer was invented; this became one of the major tools of the industrial revolution. The propeller on the Navy’s newest ship HMS Daring launched in 2006, 161 years after Brunel's Great Britain, is only five percent more efficient than the one used for the SS Great Britain.
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Roll over this image to switch between a painting of the launch of the SS Great Britain and a photo of the SS Great Britain today, back in its original dock in Bristol.
Why not try your hand at Victorian shipbuilding? Have a go at the Great E-Maze. |
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