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Was there an "accepted scientific theory" on metallurgy in the 1800s when gigantic metal ships were built? Were they not designed by engineers?

• nradov 3y ago
  Yes, scientific knowledge of metallurgy based on analytical chemistry was fairly well established by the 1880s when the first successful large steel ships were built. It's impossible to produce large volumes of steel with consistent properties on an artisanal basis because the raw materials are inconsistent. Ship designers had also developed sophisticated mathematical techniques for calculating the strength of metal structures, and optimizing for weight and cost. They certainly weren't just riveting pieces of steel together by intuition and hoping it would float. I do consider those naval designers from the 1880s onward to be true engineers in the modern sense of the word. (At the time, engineers were mostly steam engine operators, so the meaning has changed since then.) Prior to the 1880s, large ships were generally composite wood and cast iron construction. While there was an aspect of engineering involved it didn't require the same level of theoretical knowledge and design was more artisanal. But that's a gray area.