What is curious indentation of rear deck of this old battleship?

Fig 2 in this pic. Looks like their is some round object a little lower than surrounding raised deck in the middle of the indentation. What is this all about?

 

To me it looks like a roofed over ventilation pipe sticking up in the recessed pocket.

 

I believe it is a hooded ventilation shaft protruding from the recessed deck.

 

seems like a lot of trouble for a little pipe.

they designed the whole rear deck around that vent.

seems odd.

 

in those days they did manual drafting and had French curves so no two designs looked alike and they could add flourishes like that

today its all computer generated so your stuck with what the program draws

 

Here's a photo of her 25 years into service:



And a whole site dedicated to her:

http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/hms_devastation.htm

and a good description:

"The Devastation was the historical reply of the British naval constructors to the much-vaunted American monitors, and also the Admiralty's reply to the Captain. She was so unlike anything else afloat, that the writers of those days had difficulty in finding anything to which they could compare her. One describes her as like an " impregnable piece of Vauban fortification with bastions mounted upon a fighting coal mine." "

http://books.google.com/books?id=A3...#v=onepage&q=english ship devastation&f=false

starting at page 161

And finally a contemporary description which includes the design evolution of aft structure and side decks:

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F05EFD6143BE533A25755C1A9649C94619ED7CF

Boy- I need another hobby. Or perhaps a decent bottle of scotch..

 

There is a photo (the last one) at the site bntii listed

http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/hms_devastation.htm

that show it to be a capstan.

 

Q.

Figure 6, first attempt for a trimaran ?

 

More like a pentamaran.

 

it looks like there is a similar structure on the fore deck. In the picture the round object on the foredeck appears to be a windlass or winch. Perhaps it is for towing? I do not know why they would want to bury it behind the deck superstructure.

Would there be something they want to protect from battle flack? I do not see a reason to bury a vent there.

 

it's where the virgin sacrifices were held