Recently I’ve been discussing with Frank Allen of the official Hood website weather or not HMS Hood had corticine (or not) on her forward shelterdeck, i.e., the main deck where the bridge and funnels are situated. Here’s a small summary of our discussions and also; can anyone offer some additional insights of opinion? We more or less ended up with: no, we observe some pattern in a steel deck. Note: both corticene and corticine found but as I found references to “The Corticine Floor Covering Company” we’ll go with that spelling.
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From McDermaid, Shipyard Pracice as applied to warship construction (1911)
McDermaid, “Shipyard Practice as applied to warship construction”, 1911, “The back of the corticine is covered with knotting, and along the edges galvanized strips 1 inch wide are worked, which are secured to the plating by metal screws (see figure), the plating under the corticine being first thoroughly cleaned and coated with an adhesive mixture of resin and tallow.”
“Butt straps are sometimes fitted to both thicknesses of the deck, those for the upper thickness being on top of the deck, and for the lower thickness on the under side, as in Fig. p. 50, but no butt straps are fitted on top of a deck on which corticine has to be laid.”
“Upper Deck. The portion of this deck outside the forecastle is planked, and where the plating is of a single thickness the edge strips can be worked continuously on top of the deck. When the deck is doubled the butt straps can be placed either on top or underneath the deck, or both, if special strength is required. Under the forecastle corticine is laid, and the plating must be flush, edge strips and butt straps being placed on the underside. As in the case in the case of main deck, special stringers are fitted in wake of barbettes.”
Manual of Seamanship, vol II, 1932, pp292 “On weather decks and magazine flats, the steel plating is sheathed with wood; in living spaces it is covered with corticene; in bathrooms it is tiled; elsewhere it is general left bare”
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From Johnston, Clydebank Battlecruisers, HMAS Australia. A good example of corticene including the brass covering strips around not only the edges but basically all deck protrusions.
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Hood's strip pattern is slighly similar and present all over the shelderdeck, also after modifications. From Anatomy of the ship: “The superstructure platforms, living spaces, lobbies, passages and store rooms were covered with corticene (a type of linoleum) glued to the deck and held down by brass strips. Other areas
including the forward end of the shelter deck were plain steel although the flats below the upper deck were usually of chequered plating.”
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HMS Hood, upper platform. Here a very smooth deck plus brass strips with an evenly spaced bolt pattern is observed.
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Under construction. Decks partially wetting resulting in strong contrast differences. Superstructure decks show (faintly) brass strips. A strip pattern are clearly visible on the fwd shelter deck as well. (The larger strip in the bottom right corner is an expansion slot cover plate.
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Here we see HMS Hood under construction showing the shelterdeck being laid; at right the first layer with a very regular holt pattern, at left the second deck layer is well underway.What is this white we observe? Some paint or?
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Slightly later, the entire deck has been covered by a second layer of plating. The regular pattern both forward and aft well visible, matching the pattern in earlier pics (and pics below).
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This closeup of the shelterdeck does not show a brass strip around the edges and the pattern in the deck as observed during construction is clearly visible. No riveting is visible in the deck plates either.
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Again from McDermaid, many types or rivets can be used, several of them flush. McDermaid does comment that below wood decks the deck must first be faired. But what’s the purpose of these strips on Hood’s deck?