Maintaining copper sheathing required inspection, replacement, and time in dry dock. Clippers could overtake steamships in storms, but preserving their speed was expensive. They combined highly refined sailing performance with the job of carrying high-value freight. Their fragility also helps explain why the form was seldom adopted for warships.
Notable Point · 1:32:35-1:35:01
Why clipper speed did not make an ideal warship
Clipper ships could overtake steamers in storms, but their speed came from a fragile, maintenance-intensive design optimized for high-value freight rather than warship service.