The Express.
London, England, 1863-12-14 00:00:00

TEE LAUNCH OF THE MINOTAUR.

' The First of the First-rates of the Iron Navy of
England was launched from the great iron ship-
building yard of the Thames Company at Black-
well, on Saturday, and with a success which may
in every respect be pronounced " brilliant." First,
the weather, which with us is always nine poiuts
either to the good or the bad in the success of any-
thing. was magnificently fine. The sun shone out
gloriously ' • the wind was just fresh enough to dis-
play the flags that give life, colour, and
expression to every picture of the sea and
ships, and the glorious old river seemed to
leap with joy and welcome at the approach
of another of a new race of Old England's
Sea Kings. Certainly this was a day of days
for the middle of December, and a:together the
scene was one to rouse one's confidence in the
prowess of our navy, to inspire fresh energy, and
sweep away the misgivings that will arise when on
every side we see going on at the same moment the
forging of those weapons which are to destroy these
wonders of modern naval architecture. Notwith-
standing that Russian guns are being made by
English hands, and proved sound and strong on
our own proof-ground at Woolwich ; notwith-
standing we are made to listen to the boasts
of foreigners at the possession of these guns
that could pierce our iron-cased ships like
baskets and send shot and shell through earthworks
30 feet thick, the sight of the Minotaur is enough
to rouse the old undaunted spirit of the nation.
Even though we have seen a Russian floating bat-
tery of enormous strength lying aide by side with
the Minotaur in the yard of the Thames Iron
Ship Company, and know that more than one
cupola battery has been built in England for foreign
powers, nevertheless there is in beholding the
launch of such a ship as the Minotaur, so noble
and beautiful in size, strength, and proportion,
something invigorating and inspiriting. We feel it
is impossible that the wealth, the skill, the science,
and above all, the national energy represented by
this ship, can ever permit a thought of decadence,
or a doubt of danger to our shores.
The Thames iron ship yard is, amongst the many
vast undertakings of the kind in the kingdom, per-
haps the most remarkable for having sprung into
its present state of extraordinary power and com-
pleteness during the last six or seven years, and as
the birthplace of the Warrior, the first ship of the
iron navy of England ; the "Pervenetz"—in English
the " First Fruits"—of the Russian navy ;
and the first iron-cased ships for the navy
of brave little Denmark. For some time
past might have been seen upon the slips
in this yard the filinotaur, first rate, 6,812 tons ; the
Valiant, third rate, 4,06 i tons ; the Victoria, Spa-
nish frigate, of 4,862 tons ; a Turkish frigate of
4,222 tons ; the Pervenetz, Russian battery, 2,812
tons ; two large ships for the Peninsular and Orien-
tal Company, or for the London and Mediterranean
Company, besides, other smaller vessels, making in
all a tonnageof 35,000 tons. The Company, which,
we believe, consists of a few capitalists only, have
a yard, which ought to be called a territory, of some
thirty acres, with • population of artisans of near
5000,, to whom is paid from 5,0001. to 6,0001. a week.
The Minotaur by no means represents the full
capabilities of the establishment, for the largest
slip could accommodate a ship of 12,000 tons, and
the launching be effected with the greatest possible
ease. This is one of the best instances of the power
of English enterprise in private dockyards, with
which might be mentioned the neighbouring yard
of the Millwall Company, where another first-rate
and sister ship is being built—the Northumber-
land; Messrs. Laird's, at Birkenhead, where the third
first-rate—the Agincourt—is building, where about
4,000 men are employed ; Messrs. &muds's, where
tue Prince Albert cupola battery is being built ;
Meese. Palmer's, in the Tyne, builders of the Defence,
where 12 merchant ships of the largest size, from
1,000 to 4,000 tons, are now building, employing
some 3,500 men ; Messrs. R. Napier's, in the Clyde,
builders of the Black Prince, the Rector, and a
Danish cupola battery, now occupied with no
leas than three Turkish frigates, each of 4,221 tons,
plated with 51 inch iron all over, and teak backing
of 10 inches, with other vessels. On the Clyde also
are to be seen two iron-cased ships for the Emperor
of China, and no doubt a place would be found for
any potentate in the world who could pay for the
work. It is important to bear iu mind the fact that
all these enormous resources, to say nothing of the
great metal-making factories of the country at this
present time, full of foreign contract, for steel guns
and armour plates, will assuredly be kept em-
ployed ; and that while our government
are setting up their plant for building iron-plated
ships, and cutting away the msguificeut granite
docks to float out the monster vessels, all at enor-
mous cost and sacrifice, our private yards are
actually building the iron navies for the foreigner
at very much lees cost to him. Unless the authori-
ties have grown wiser, we shall probably see the
very slip from which the Minotaur was launched
speedily occupied by some first-rate foreigner.
If the saving of time and money is of such
vital importance just now we may see how
these points have worked in the building
of the Achilles, the first attempt of the
government dockyards at iron shipbuilding. The
Achilles, which is about the same tonnage as the
Warrior, and rated in the second class, was ordered
to be laid down three-quarters of a year before the
Minotaur, but it will be at least a fortnight before
the Achilles, a much smaller ship, with not much
more than half the weight of armour-plates
borne by the Minotaur, will be undocked.
When the one first-rate undertaken by the Admi-
ralty—the Captain—will be ready, must depend
upon the number of alterations that may be sug-
gested by the new Chief Constructor of the Navy,
and the contingencies which at present surround the
question of armour-plates, backing, and skin.
Much as the Minotaur is to be admired as a grace-
ful and very powerful ship, we cannot pretend to
congratulate the Admiralty much upon her invulner-
ability, if that is to be a sine qed non of a first-rate.
It stands proved beyond all refutation, even by
Lord Clarence Paget, that the Minotaur, over the
whole of her fighting deck, is a more vulnerable ship
than the Warrior. She has, it is true, been exemp-
ted from the fault of having only the centre part of
the ship protected, as the armour plates are carried,
right fore and aft, on the main deck, covering all
the guns, but in taking away the 9 itches of teak
backing anal putting in its place the one inch of iron
upon the armour plata so as to keep the weight
per square foot of the two arrangements equal, the
Minotaur has been weakened. The target experi-
ments have proved this over and over again, and
it is remarkable that the 600-pounder Armstrong
gun has never been fired at the Minotaur target,
but at one constructed on the plan of the Warrior,
showing that this was admitted to be • stronger
target. But the most astonishing thing is, that the
Admiralty were well aware that the sides of the
Minotaur, as designed, were weaker than the War-
rior ; they bad their grave doubts from the moment
of giving the order to build her on Sept. 2, 1861, and
very properly inserted a clause in the contract, ena-
bling them to alter the combination of wood and iron
forming the armour of the ship. When it was die)
covered at Shoeburyneas that 18 inches of timber
backing was better than one extra inch of armour
plate, the building of the ship was stopped, and
the constructor of the Thames Shipbuilding Com-
pany was required to give an estimate for restoring
the nine inches of backing. As the ship was then
so far in progress that the shelf for the armour plates
was made, it became a diffictelt and expensive
matter to maks so very important an alteration a