The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-20 00:00:00

Experiml

'ness.

On Friday the la st but one of the most important
and valuable series of experiments which have been
conducted at this practice-ground by the members
of the Iron-plate Committee was made, in the pre-
sence of one of the largest assemblages of naval
and military officers and scientific gentlemen that
have ever yet attended the trial of any target.
Among others present were Lord Mountcharles,
Lord Dufferin, Lord Torrington, General Sir Harry
Jones, Mr. Thomas Page, C.E., Mr. W. Fairbairn,
Admiral Sir Charles Talbot, Captain Heath, R.N.,
Captain Derriman, R.N., the Hon. Captain Eger-
ton, R.N., Admiral Halstead, Captain Caffin, R.N.,
Colonel Lefroy, Sir J. D. Hay, R.N., Commander
Hugh Burgoyne, the Hon. Colonel Wrottesley,
Commander Scott, Sir William Armstrong, Mr. P.
Rolt, Mr. Whitworth, Admiral Frederick, Admiral
Robinson, Admiral Grey, Admiral Drummond,
Colonel Jervis, Major Alderson, Capt. W. Palliser,
Captain Fowke, Colonel Hogg, Captain Key, R.N.,
Colonel Galwey, Colonel Baynes, Mr. E. J. Reed,
Naval Constructor ; Captain Harrison, Professor
Pole, Colonel Henderson, the Hon. Mr. St. Maur,
Mr. Reed, R.N., Mr. Bascombe, Major-General
Taylor, General Rumley, Captain Dyer, gee..
The target, which was 20ft. by 9ft., was cone
strutted after the pattern of the Lord Warden,
which is building at Chatham, and represented the
ordinary broadside of a wooden ship armour-plated,
with the addition of an iron skin outside the
frame timbers. These frame timbers were of Eng.
lish oak 123 in. thick, strengthened by connecting
diagonal iron riders or bands 6in, wide by 1 yin.
thick. Outside this tame the inner planking, Bin,
thick, and then a complete casing of wrought iron,
lfin. thick. Outside this casing again was Din. of
oak, which was again protected by rolled armour
plates, 44in. thick by 201 t, long and 4ft. wide.
Thus the total thickness of the target or,
as we may call it, the Lord Warden, on the
model of which ship the target was built was 35fin.,
of which 6in, were iron and 29 in. oak. In addi-
tion to this mass there were four oak deck beams
averaging 15io. by 15in. square, and a massive iron
knee to each beam weighing nearly 4cwt. The
armour-plate bolts were 21-in. in diameter, and the
beams which represented the upper and lower deck,
and which were 4in. thick, and laid longitudinally
along the back of the target, gave additional stiff-
ness to the whole. In theory it was supposed that
the inner plate of llin. thick coming between the
masses of oak inside the 4fin. armour-plate would
be sufficient to keep out any shot—a theory which
proved totally groundless when it came to be tested
by the downright matter of fact arguments of steel
sleet from the heaviest battery which has ever been
directed against a target at Shoeburyness. There
were six guns in position opposite the target, all
made on Sir William's coil principle, and rifled on
his shunt plan, which threw steel shot from 100 lb,
to 3001 b. weight, and were fired with charges vary-
ing from 2511 e. to 501 b. of powder.
As the results are what principally interest the
public on these occasions, it is needless to go
through a loug detail of every shot fired. It will be
sufficient to say that every shot went completely
through the outside armour-plate, and made its
effects more or less seriously manifest on the interior
backing. This is what the least effective of the
missiles accomplished, and proved at once that
4f in, of outside armour have no manner of chance
against even 100-pounders loaded with steel shot.
The result with these shunt guns and steel pro-
jectiles was at least 21)0 per cent. greater than
was ever effected about a year ego with Sir Wil-
liam's breech-loader and the conical-headed cast-
iron shot. Admiral Frederick's light 7-inch gun
did a great deal more than could have been ex-
pected, but the performances of all were, as a
matter of course, eclipsed by the heavy 9.22.
inch gun of Sir William, loaded with 44'-b. of '
powder, and a 2201 b. steel shot. This gun was in-
tended for a 300-pounder, but instead of being bored
out to 10-lin., was only of the calibre we have stated,
leaving the increased thickness of metal to enable
the piece to withstand almost any charge of powder
or shot. This tremendous steel bolt struck the
target with a velocity of 1,450 ft. a second, and not
only went clear through, but went on through part
of the bank beyond and fell nearly a mile out to sea.
The ruin which it made at the back of the target
was complete. At the part it struck huge ragged
splinters were scattered far and wide, and one of the
massive iron knees was broken off and whirled away
some 30 yards to the back, striking a block of
granite in its passage, and shivering a crowd of
little fragments out of it. What such a " knee "
would have done traversing the crowded 'tween
deck of a man of-war it is almost fearful to contem-
plate, and the amount of heavy rough splinters
thrown about showed at once that Mr Reed has
mode a serious mistake in not having an inner lining
of wrought iron to keep these murderous auxiliaries
from assisting the work of the enemy's shot. The
Somerset 9.22-inch gun, which only weighs 6f tons,
was intended for a smooth-bore spherical 100-
pounder, but the piece tried on Friday was rifled,
and thus improved it may be said to have accom-
plished great things, if we leave out of sight the
fact that it is more than four years ago since
Mr Whitworth sent his 70-pounder shot through
the 4-inch armour of the Trusty. This Somerset
gun, loaded with a steel shell of 170ib., with
a bursting charge of 71b. of powder, and fired with
201 b. charge, went through both outer and inner
plates and the intervening oak, where it burst, and
so shattered the interior backlog of all as to make
it evident that all the pumping resources of a steam
frigate could scarcely keep down such a leak, and
that two would settle the question of her flotation
in ten minutes. It failed, however, to get right
through the target, though the partial hole which
it made soon afterwards afforded a striking illustra-
tion of the importance of getting a shelf through
the armour of these iron-clads. Another 170 lb,
steel shell, with a 71b. bursting charge, was fired,
and struck the hole made by the previous shell we
thoel;aikate . This
have just mentioned as establishing
second shell passed through the arraur
and
lodged in the oak firmly, bursting and blowing its
charge forward like a gun. It Is difficult to de.
scribe accurately the tremendous destruction which''
this small charge produced. It shattered the hack
of the target to splinters, drove one of the armour
bolts deep into the beam supporting the target,
wrenched off and blew away to some distance one
of the massive knees, and covered the ground fur
and near with fragments of the oak, each heavy
enough and hurled with sufficient force to have cut
a man in two. Anything more terrible than the
cffect'of such a sholl on the crew of a ship it would
be difficult to conceive, and it was a pity that the
Lords of the Admiralty (who generally contrive to
leave the practice-ground before the weakness of
their ships is incontestably demonstrated) had not
remained to behold the total destruction which this
shell caused. Another shot fired from Sir William's
101-inch 300-pounder, with a 451 b. charge, went
through the lower part of the target, which was
Comparatively uninjured, with the same ease and
destructive effect that the previous 220,b, shot
had passed through the upper.
Some experiments were also tried with the
chilled casteiron shot, cast on Capt. W. Palliser's
principle, the results of which were equally sur-
prising and important. Hitherto the effect pro-
duced by firing against armour plates with cast-'
iron shot his been almost absolutely nothing ; in
fact, to use the Duke of Somerset's expression in a
recent debate, it has been like pelting the targets
with mud. Daring the last two or three years,
however, Captain Palliser, of the 18th Hussars,
has conducted, at his own expense, a series
of
most
important experiments on casting shot in cold iron
mould instead of hot sand ones, by which, without
adding a fraction to the cost of casting, but, on
the
contrary, reducing it by about ld. per shot, he
chills the outside of the metal into the hardness of
steel, and obtains with a cast projectile which ewe
about 2s. a result almost equal to that of a steel
shot which costs 50e. The shot tried on Friday
were only 100 pounders from the Frederick gun
with a 201 b charge, but in every case they went
clear through the 41in, armour plate and deep into
the backing beyond. One of the peculiarities of
Captain Palliser's most valuable discovery is that
after accomplishing its work through the armour
plate .his shot breaks up ittto minute fragments of

from four to eight ounces weight, so that in fact
the projectile carries in itself almost the penetra-
tive powers of steel shot, and the explosive frag-
ments of the most powerful shell. No opportunity
was afforded on Friday of judging the effect which
these fragments would produce, as Capt. Palliser
had not shot large enough for the guns which could
have sent them tnrough the 35in. of mixed oak anl
iron that composed the target. But not the slightest
doubt appeared to remain in the minds of thosepre-
sent that if a sufficiently large projectile was used
it would pierce the target, and its breaking up
prove as advantageous, in point of destructiveness,
as the largest shell. Of all the discoveries
which Shoeburyness has brought forward few
promise to be more valuable to the country
than this of the chilled shot of Captain Palliser, and
it is to be hoped that their utility will soon be tried
on a more extended scale than was possible on Fri-
day. We may also add that Capt. Palliser has, by
the simple process of lining our cast-iron guns with
wrought-iron coils, discovered a means of rendering
our old cast ordnance available as rifled cannon.
This plan has been tried at Woolwich and found to
answer even beyond the hopes of its inventor, and
the acres of guns now lying at the Arsenal and our
various dockyards can soon, and at small expense,
be converted into rifled ordnance on any pattern
which the result of the Whitworth and Armstrong
trials may induce the Government to adopt. Too
high praise can scarcely be given to the exertions
of a young cavalry officer, who, conducting expe•
riments at his own expense, has now brought for-
ward results which, in the matter of cast shot and
rifling our cast guns, will effect a saving of millions
to the country.

After these experiments the target was in such a
state of ruin that there was no place left sufficiently
sound on which to try the effect of another pro-
jectile. The general plan of the target was not
considered very satisfactory. The outside 41in.
armour plate and the ltin. plate between the oak
gives a weight of six inches of armour to be carried
by the ship, but dividing the plates in the manner
we have stated gives very little more than half the
resisting power which would be afforded by six
inches of iron rolled into one plate. The want of
iron lining to check the splintering of the target
seems also to be considered a grave defect. Had
the outer armour plate been 51 inches instead of 4f,
and had the other half inch been used as a lining to
the oak inside, very different results would have
been gained as to the resistance of the mass, and
the splinters would have been done away with almost
entirely. The armour plates, which were manufac-
tured by the Millwall Company, deservedly attracted
the highest praise. Though pierced in all directions
there was not the slightest sign of a crack to be
found in any part. Better plates have seldom been
seen at Shoebury.

AMERICA.

The special correspondent of the New York Times
with the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac
writes from Cold Harbour, near the Chickahominy,
Friday, Jane 3, 10 p.m. :
" Judged by the severity of the encounter and the
heavy losses we have experienced, the engagement
which opened at grey dawn this morning, and
spent its fury in little over an hour, should take
its place among the battles of the war ; but viewed
in its relations to the whole campaign—it is, per-
haps, hardly more than a grand reconnaissance—a
reconnaissance, however, which has cost us not less
than 5,000 or 6,000 killed and wounded. The ob-
ject of the action was to force the paesage of the
Chickahominy, on the north side of which and cover-
ing the roads to Richmond the rebels had planted
themselves in a fortified line. What we have done
is to feel this line by a vigorous attack, in which,
though gaining some temporary successes, and at
one or two points actually carrying the enemy's
works, we have, on the whole, reached the conclu-
sion that any victory that could here be won must
cost too much in its purchase. Ido not say this as
speaking with any authority, but only as recording
the general conviction of the army. Such convic-
tion, however, when the common judgment of such
men as have to-day led their lines against the
enemy, is apt to be of itself authority, and hence I
think I may safely predict that there will he no
renewal of the assault on the lines of the Chicka-
hominy ; that we must lock to the resources of
strategy to plant this army in a position where,
being at less of a disadvantage, its valour will have
a better promise of adequate reward. It is in this
view that the action of to-dey assumes to me the
aspect of a great reconnaissance. But it might
easily have been more, Were prudence not as
much a characteristic of Lieutenant-General Grant's
mind as pluck, did he not know as well how and
when to cry a halt as to order an advance, he might
have pushed the action from a reconnaissance to a
bloody battle ; but to me it is clear we should have
had only another Fredericksburg mid its useless
slaughter. General Grant is not so poor in resource
that he need do this; and I think already his eyes
are turned away from the Chickahominy to lines and
combinations more bold than any yet essayed.'
After a lengthened view of the situation which
led up to the battle on Friday, he goes on to describe
the event thus ;
"In saddle at 4 o'clock in the morning, the grey
light of dawn is struggling through a thick envelope
of clouds, and a light pattering rain is falling. Our
men still lie behind the breastworks, worn out with
the work of the night ; the rebe,s, too, lie behind
their intrenchments, and only the sleepless pickets
peer with wary eyes forward through the dusk of
the woods. All is still as the grave; yet in 30
minutes the storm of battle will burst forth along a
stretch of six miles. There is but time to take a
glance at the lines. :?ere on the left wing of the
army is the corps of Hancock (the 2d), connecting
with him on the right and forming the left centre, is
Wright's (the 6th); then Smith's (the 18th), which
holds the centre; next comes Warren's (the sth),
which forms the right centre, and then Burnside's
(the 9th), which holds the extreme right. Our line
runs almost parallel with the Chickahominy and from
one and a half to two and a half miles north of it. On
the left wing we approach nearest the river; on the
right we are somewhat refused. Hancock, holding
the left wing, rests across the Despatch Station road
(that is, the road leading from Cold Harbour to Des-
patch Station) ; our right is across the Totopamoy.
The rebel front is formed immediately in front of the
an d
a skirmish
Chickahominyin three lines (two lines of battle
irnaiaa line), on au irregular line to conform
with the woods and ridges and swamps of the
ground. Between the two armies is a low swampy
region whose dark hollows will soon be lit up with
the fires of death. Suddenly from behind the rude
parapet there is an upstarting,
ringing
a noiseless s
of officers forming
to arms, the mused commands p
the line. The attack was ordered for 4 30 and it
may have been five minutes after that, or, it may
have been ten minaea, but it certainly was not later
than 4 45, when the whole line Wad in motion.
Skirmishers are thrown out and presently
meet the
enemy's pickets as we learn by the smart fusilade
we hear. Our artillery opens, the rebels respond,
and in a moment the deadly conflict is joined.
The
metaphysicians say that time is naught,is but a cate-
gory of thought, and I think it must be so, for into
ten mortal minutes this morning was crowded an age
of action. Ten minutes of the figment men call
time, and yet that scant space decided a battle !
There are a thousand details, ten thousand episodes,
but the essential matter is this, that that first rush
of advance carried our whole front butt up against
the line of works, which we were unable to break

through, or, breaking through, were unable to bold.
Conceive of this in the large—the fierce onslaught
amid deafening volleys of musketry and the thunder
of artillery, and the wild, mad yell of battle, and
see the ranks mowed down, and the lines break
here and there, and the sullen, obstinate retreat,
every inch contested, and we shall then be able to
descend to some of the points of action as they
individualise themselves along the line. Hancock
held the left of the whole line of battle ; and of
his three divisions, that of Barlow held the
extreme left of the army, that of Gibbon
was drawn on the right of Barlow's, while
Birney's divisors was held in reserve. Of the
tour brigades of BArlow's division, Brooks had the
left and Miles the -ight— each brigade in double

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