The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-10 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, OCT. 10, 1864.

How to expend the greatest amount of public
money with the least possible result is the problem
which our Board of Admiralty appears to have set
itself to solve. They have often succeeded in coming
vary near a result, but their last achievement really
outdoes themselves. The public have grown so
accustomed to their mal.adnainistration and extra-
vagance that they have almost ceased to wonder and
exclaim, but the case in question is so flagrant that
it has aroused the attention even of those who look
on all Admiralty proceedings with quiet despair.
Great interest has been excited by the trial of
Captain COLES'S much-talked-of system of turret
ships, and it was a source of general satisfaction
when it was first decided at headquarters that his
method should be submitted to the fair test of prim-
tical experiment. It was many a long year before
this concession was made, but the decision when
come to was generally applauded, for without in
any way committing ourselves to unconditional
approval of the system, we must say that Captain
COLES'S perseverance and ability, the skill with
which he supported his views before competent
examiners, and the favour with which they have
been received in scientific and professional circles,
alike entitle his model turret ship to a fair trial.
This point, however, was gained, and the Admiralty,
following their favourite plan of cutting down and
altering whenever it is possible to find an excuse
for doing so, directed that Captain COLES should
convert the Royal Sovereign, a costly wooden three-
decker, into a turret-ship on his system. And
now, what is the end of the story ? The ship is
completed, equipped, manned, and put under the
command of a very able officer, Captain OSBORNE,
and all who are interested in such matters are
watching with anxiety the results of her winter
campaign. The trial trips have been as yet satis-
factory, and her commander has expressed himself
well pleased with what he has seen of her. All is
ready for the promised fair trial, when the public
is startled by the intelligence that the ship is paid
out of commission and placed in the steam reserve
—when and in what form to be allowed to re-
appear, may be asked. Such a proceeding is outs
rageous alike to common sense and justice. It is
undoubtedly due to Captain COLES and his sup.
riders that the ship should be sent fairly to sea and
allowed to prove her sea-going capacities. That is
the very point on which he especially claims prece-
dence for his system over the famous American
Monitors, which, however formidable at close quar-
ters, have been proved to have the serious draw.
back of being generally unseaworthy. A ship may
be in the mysterious list of the steam reserve for
fifty years without anyone knowing how she would
behave in rough weather at sea ; and thus Captain
COLES'S invention is pronounced to have failed,
quietly huddled oat of sight with the hope, per-
haps, that it will drop out of public remembrance.
Bat the public feel that they have been ill-used no
less than Captain COLES. Why, if the experiment
was not worth trying fully and fairly, was a
vcesel that cost a hundred thousand pounds to be
sacrificed to it, and the public money wasted in an
experiment which was never intended to be carried
Out ? Why, if there really were grounds, as there
undoubtedly were, in the present transition state of
naval architecture, for testing how much Captain
COLES's plan was worth, should the work stop half
Way ? Why should men and officers who have
learned how to work this particular ship be paid
off, and their knowledge turned to no account ?
Why are we to go on building iron plated ships on
the ordinary plan,
when all the time the turret
Alps, for what we know, may prove far superior
as vessels of war ? We cannot see that the Admi-
ralty excuses for the proceeding are at all satisfac.
tory. It is gravely asserted that the Royal Sove-
reign was never intended for a sea-going ship at all,
but merely as a fliating battery for harbour defence,
capable of being sent to any part of the Channel,
with squadron—that
but not adapted to cruise