On Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:11:46 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok
wrote:

I was surprised to read on the first link that steaming Navy vessels
carried sails as a backup for 32 years after the intro of steam.

--Vic

Yes - can't trust this newfangled stuff.

Until the perfection of the triple expansion steam engine, you
couldn't carry enough coal to cross oceans. What you could do with
limited coal was enter harbors, up rivers and against the wind. In a
fight you could take in the sails and manuver independent of the wind.

That is what you call an overwhelming advantage over a sail only ship.
Prior to the perfection of the screw propellor, the paddle wheels
presented huge targets and took out lots of broadside space used for
guns on a sail only ship. One reason steam was slow to be adopted. It
was used for harbor tugs early on.

Casady