Why were tanks and ships riveted together in ww1 instead of welded?
An attempt at hindsight (like guessing at the source of word roots from a different language) can produce interesting errors. In one of the answers it says “ship builders had been using rivets for hundreds of years” which is errant nonsense. The first iron hulled ships were less than 100 years old at the start of WWI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironclad_wa… and early steam engined liners were wood. Late windjammers were sail craft with steel hulls http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windjammer Riveting of iron has a simple purpose if you can get at both sides of the joint – allows multiple points of attachment to a frame – welding is primarily an edge connection activity and unless you have powerful equipment thick steel plates are a problem. Also welding distorts by heating, requiring special procedures. Iron plate is not easy to weld and steel in l
