The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-24 00:00:00

TUE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY.EVENING, JUNE 24, 1864.

rattlesnake's head," and a string of violent speeches,
of the true Western style and brimful of words that
are not ordinarily mentioned to ears polite, were
made to the crowd. The proceedings lasted from
8 o'clock till half.past 11, when the Baltimore Con•
vention became a thing of the past. The inhabi-
tants declare that it was the tamest and most spirit-
less convention ever held in the city. This morn-
ing the streets have resumed their normal appear-
ance, the delegates have departed, the bands are
silent, the voice of Buncombe is heard no more in
the land, and once again the attention of everybody
who has a thought to spare from business is directed
to the battle-fields of Virginia, and to the great
events that are there to be decided—events that
may make an end of Mr. Lincoln as a public man,
end render his convention as idle as the silliest
speech that was made in it.

THE ROYAL SOVEREIGN,

This vessel made her official trial of speed and power of
circling with full and reduced steam pressure yesterday, at
the trial ground in Stokes Bay, near Portsmouth, under the
personal superintendence of Rear-Admiral R. S. Robinson,
Controller of the Neu, and by the success which attended
the day's proceedings the public may be fairly congratulated
on another and most formidable craft having been added to
our list of effective ironclada, really effective in the sense
that at 24 hours' notice she could join the Channel fleet, and
accompany it if necessary for active service in the Baltic.
We must preface our account of yesterday's trial with a
brief description of the ship and her present appearance, for
the Royal Sovereign as now completed is a different vessel
in many respects from what she was intended to be at the
first commencement of the work of her conversion. This is
but a natural result following upon the execution of so novel
a work, where every one engaged was very possibly feeling
his way, and improving upon the details as the ship grew
into her new form. The time occupied in the conversion has
undoubtedly been long, and the cost has also undoubtedly
been great, yet every one who may go over the ship will be
compelled to admit that the result is satisfactory, and that
the Royal Sovereign has an appearance of efficiency about
her that very few anticipated, and is far more sightly to the
eye when seen clear from other surrounding objects on the
water than could have been expected. Yesterday, on getting
clear of the harbour and reaching the open water at Spit-
head, she looked with her bulwarks up and short masts just
capping the funnel like some gigantic gunboat under jury
rig. With her bulwarks down she presents the now well,
known Monitor type of form, her turrets showing out
distinctly in their positions along the ridge of curved
bul.
deck. Much of her raft like appearance which
,the po essed
~
a few months back has been taken away le:s
pe
a r
light iron
Utted round her up
wark 3ft Ein in depth, which has been
deck, and which throws down c4twards on hinged stan-
chions. The three short signal `Jr drying poles with which she
has been fitted also tends
~o improve her appearance, but
they would have done so far more effectively had they been
of greater length. stepping on to the Royal Sovereign's
upper deck we at once see its curved or " turtle-backed"
shape, and along the crest of this curve stand the four tur-
rets and pilothouse, funnel and casing, hatchways, masts
(if such puny sticks may be so termed), ventilating shafts,
&e. Round the stern are carved the Royal arms in bold re-
lief, and surmounting the stemhead is the figurehead of the
ship, a well-executed crowned lion, 5 ft bin in length by 4ft
in height, with bristling mane and half-lifted paw. Ex.
cepting the figure of the lion, everything above the deck is
painted white. The foremost turret, standing sft abovr tke
deck, has its top covered by a grating, and is surround'A by
a handrail, and thus affords a deck prumenade for t.,,a.ofu „
of the watch or look-out man, and communi,:ates with a
further space available for the same purprJse on the top of
the pilot-house, which stands next to
and on the top of
the funnel casing. The three sine6.l, gun-turrets are Oft Sin
above the deck, and have a a.ouble line of rails 20 inches in
depth round their tops to
which will thus form ',tow the men's hammocks in, and
capital rifle pits. The tops of the tur-
rets are closed by,
the necessary 'heavy angle iron and inch-plating with
'..aan and ventilating holes. All other aper-
turesd
b-,ir
open down below from the upper deck are
wrought iron bare 4f in by Ilin,placed in massive
wrar..ght iron framing edgewise 41in apart, and thus prevent
entrance of shell or shot by those passages to the 'tween
decks. The carved upper deck of the vessel appears at first
eight to be dangerously " soft" when looked at in close
proximity to the massive armour of the sides and turrets,
nothing being visible but wooden planking. In truth, how-
ever, this deck is not quite so vulnerable as it appears to be.
The wooden planking, Gin in thickness, is laid upon iron
plates lin in thickness, the latter having all their butts
and sides riveted together with wide straps of iron of the
same thickness, and further strengthened by stringer-lines of
inch plating running fore and aft and round the hatchway's
and funnel casing. This combined iron and wooden deck
is laid upon rolled iron beams and the original wooden beam.
of the ship, which are fixed so closely together that even if
a shot or shell penetrated through both iron and wooden
deck it would be difficult for it to force a further passage
through to the deck below. The probable influx of water
had also to be provided against, for with her bulwarks down
and heavy ann. at cks...anal, with a brQoas on,
there is no doubt a considerable quantity of water might
wash over the deck. To meet this contingency therefore
stout leather flaps, metal-weighted at their outer edges, are
fixed round the turrets, and effectually close the open space
in the deck against the admission of any great quantity of
water. Iron comings nearly three feet in depth aro fitted
to all the hatchways, &c., for the same purpose. The pilot-
house is an oval structure, plated with 51 inch armour, and
stands between the foremost turret and tunnel casing. In-
side it affords to the captain and master, or other officer, a
perfectly secure means of observation in every direction,
and a means of communication with the engine room, tur-
rets, and all parts of the ship, either by ordinary ship's
telegraph or voice tube, while right underneath and in sight
of those in the pilot-house is fixed the wheel for steering the
ship. The two chief boats are carried on crutches amid-
ships between the centre turrets. We heve so recently
given detailed descriptions of the Royal Sovereign's fitting
a a turret ship and her conversion from a three-decker that
it will be only necessary on the present occasion to further
refer generally to the subject, and enter again into any de-
tails only sufficient to describe the actual differences existing
between our experimental turret ship and those which are
in the possession of other powers, from the greater number
of which she materially differs either in form of hull, nature
of armour disposition, and the fitting of her turrets, &c. As
a cut-down three-decker she differs from all others of her
class—in her form of hull below the water-line, where she
carries the original three-decker or V form of bottom, in-
creased in its displacement some nine feet downwards from
he water-line by the lower tier of armour plates and its
strengthening backing, outside the ship's hull proper and
supporting shelf, to the plates' lower edge, of a double thick-
ness of 41 inch teak planking, laid on diagonally, She differs
from most others in her turrets revolving by four different
appliances of power, by hand—by rack and pinion inside
the turret; do. outside and a fixture on lower deck ;
tackles; and handspikes shipped and manned like capstan
bars, in lieu of one method only—by steam. In her armour
she also differs from all the American vessels of the same
description, from the 15 Russian Monitors now afloat in
the Baltic, and from several built by other Powers,
in its being composed of solid forgings, or, more correctly
speaking, of solid rolled plating,instead of a number of ie

_ --
or inch-and-halt plates bolted together, as is the _,oh
r
the American and Russian Monitors in part ...se with
eular. Both
Americans and Russians, however, adn,L, that
solid
masses
of metal are preferable for protect'.
ve armour, whether for
ships or forts, to the same or e-
Jen a much greater weight of
1 iron divided into inch thin'
'finesses and bolted together by in-
numerable bolts; bat' point to the necessity which existed
in their case for `..ne speedy creation of their Monitors, in the
one
ens ee for.
the capture of Charleston and other ports in the
r..,0n of the American Confederate States, and in the
°t'...er for the protection of Cronstadt and Sweaborg. It is
in the disposition of her turrets, however, that the Royal
I Sovereign differs most from the American Monitors, and,
as the commanders of the latter vessels have found it
1 necessary to "assign reasons for their failing t) capture
Charelston " in their combined attack upon that place,
a comparison of the turrets on board the Royal So-
vereign and those of the American vessels cannot fail
to be otherwise than interesting at a time when our first
turret ship has made, under official supervision, her maiden
essay under steam. We propose to pursue this comparison
under four heads only :-1. Exposed height of turret above
the deck. 2. Turret's support at base when revolving or
repelling shock when struck by shot. 3. Jamming of port
stoppers or mantelets. 4, Disabling of gun carriages. The
American Monitors' turrets are 9 feet fat height above the
upper deck, on which, indeed their'ease rests on a brass ring,
When thus resting on the 7 Ipper deck it has no means of
revolving, so that wiv...n. the turret is prepared for siaion
it has to be lifte:
from off the deck by a st..,reW wedge
l bears the same relation te the turretlow
tae base of a spindle upon the deck be
dornivden nwhiiet,aospindle
as dof:s the spindle of an ordinary ship's capstan), and then
is revolved, resting upon this single central spindle by
geard wheels driven by steam, the whole weight of the
turret being above the plane of the deck exposed to the
enemy's fire, and the turret itself further capped by the
" pilot. house"—another mass of laminated iron, making the
whole structure, which is dependent for its free movement,
I and
_c.o,usequent efficiency, upon the continued perfect per-
pendicularity of the iron aptudle in its centre, 13ft 6in in
height. Contrast this with the Royal Sovereign's turrets.
All four of her turrets have their base and working portion
Aremsteinrigcauranndthtehulaw,
L
to an enemy's shot, 1,
ienr 8 andad nooft
etxhpeo :.ii pt 1 pgear
hd ee
icgkh,
ta
of
fsvi
leftth Feinie 1
ey only show—in the foremost or
double .gun turret, sft above the deck—in the three after or
single-gun turrets, 4ft 3M above the deck.
ac actiongiven there is sremarkable difference. The American
turret depends solely upon the perfect perpendicularity of
its central spindle,like the peg ot a boy's top when spinning.
The Royal Sovereign's, on the contrary, distribute their
weight over a large space. The table upon which the turret
stands is pivoted in its centre upon a wrought-iron cylinder,
sufficiently large fora man to pass through, while the weight
is distributed on bevilled wheels over a metal roadway equal-
ling the turret's circumference in a manner very similar to ,

the machinery of a railway turntable. Here it will be seen
at once is a non-exposure of surface to shot and a support
and distribution of weight which the American Monitors
do not possess—on the contrary, they possess its weakest
opposites. In the American Monitors the port stoppers (to
protect the crew when loading the gun) aro of iron, and
swing upon an iron pivot. In the Royal Sovereign they
are massive rope mantelets (after the fashion taught us by
the Russians at Sebastopol), with cable grummets work- d
sailor-fashion round the gun inside the port, sufficiently
strong to keep any rifle ball or sp inters from large pro-
jectiles or shells from entering the port. In the American
vessels the guns have ne breeching, but trust entirely to
a powerful compressor. The Royal Sovereign's gun-
carriages, on the contrary, have not only powerful com-
pressors, but they have, as all guns at sea should
have, good breechings, with carriages working on in-
clined planes with great friction. To make this part of our
report as clear as possible to the general reader we will here
describe the interior of the turrets, the monster guns with
which they are armed, and the appliances for working them.
The ship's armament consists of five guns, generally known
as the 121 don gun, or 300. pounder. The gun's diameter of
bore is 101 in, and had thy been rifled they would have been
300-pounders, but as tliey have nut been rifled they can
only throw 1501 b spherical shot, with a 401 b charge of pow-
der. What the effect of the Royal Sovereign's concentrated
five guns' delivery of st3el shot, fired with 501 b charges,
upon the side of an opposing ironclad would be may be pretty
fairly estimated by the fate of the Lord Warden target in
the recent experimental iring at Shoeburyness. Two guns
are mounted in the forersost turret, and one in each of the
other three turrets. From the plane of the table on which
the guns and their carriages rest, the turrets have each a
clear interior height of 9a, and are sufficiently spacious for
the crew to move about iti and work the guns. In the fore-
most turret 13 men will be stationed when the guns aro
manned—that is, six met to each gun, with a captain or di-
rector of the turret, in no three single gun turrets 9 men
will be stationed—eight nen to work the gun and the cap-
tain of turret. In the Roeal Sovereign the old title of" cap-
tain of the gun' is superseded by "captain of the turret "
nor are they trained i'• '
object,f or the
properly
ralrye
speaking
ateelgf;
for the sights are on an
top of the turret, and th 3 turret itself ' axed upon the
trained upon the object, me hen, oy its revolving is
"captain of the turret."
..a3 the now nesignation,
form, having an incline -
71)'., guns work on a massive plat-
the recoil, which
of 4 degrees, thus greatly checking
gun is held th ;-
.d about 6 fn and on reaching which the
ereby a powerful pa to enable the to
the ta .re-load it e w
for which purpose there is ample room between
w, attaale of the gun and the turret's port. The shot is
.nipped up from the deck below by an ingenious contri-
vance and carried in a shot bearer to the gun's mouth,
' where all the loaders have to do is to force it down upon
the charge. When the gun is loaded, one man releases it
from the paul and runs it out on the inclinea plane. The
captain then gives the directions for training the turret, and
for elevating or depressing the guns preparatory to firing.
Two men elevate and depress each of these heavy pieces
without having to go in the rear or behind the gun or car-
riage. Two of the guns are fitted with the means of eleva-
tion and depression on Lieutenant Rociae's principle, and
the remaining three on what is termed the Ordnance plan,
which, however, it is only just to say is simply a modifica-
tion of Lieutenant Roche's plan. The guns with their
carriages and the turrets in which they are mounted appear
to have been rendered as complete as possible in all details,
even the men's cutlasses and revolvers, with the spare gun
breechings and other gear, being all stowed away and to
hand in the interstices of the turret : but to the turrets and
their guns we intend to refer at much greater length when
they have gone through the trial it is intended to subject
them to, when the guns will be fired under similar con-
ditions to what usual occur during an actual engagement
either with a ship or fort. In the official reports made by
the commanders of the American turret vessels in defence
of their failing in their attacks upon Charleston, we find
the cause of their failure clearly stated to arise from
circumstances which could not occur on board the Royal
Sovereign. Thus the Passaic's turret was jammed by a
broken portion of the brass ring at its base. The Nantucket's
turret was jammed by nuts and boltheads falling under the
base. The Weehawken's turret revolved with difficulty
owing to a shot having struck the pilot-house on its top and
bent the central spindle; the Nahant's turret refused to
turn and became jammed from the effects of two blows from
shot about the composition ring at the base of the pilot-
house. The Nantucket's gun was rendered useless by the
inflating of her port-stopper by a shot indentation, and on
another occasion her llin gun was disabled from the
carriage not having been properly compressed. Now, if
reference is made to our description of the Royal Sove-
reign's turrets, it will be seen that no shot can strike
their base as with the Passaic; that no boltheads or nuts
could stop their revolving as with the Nantucket, nor could
any number of blows on the pilot-house affect the turrets in
any way as with the Weehawken, from the fact of the Royal
Sovereign's pilot-house being an independent structure—
nor would her ports become blocked up by the jamming of
iron port-stoppers, because the more sensible plan of rope
mantelets has been adopted in her case—nor could her gun
carriages become disabled owing to the serious fault of hav-
ing only one means of control over their movement. We
think the comparison has thus been pursued sufficiently far
to make clear the main differences existing ,„,
turret ship Royal Sovereign and the turret ships belonging
to foreign Powers, and also the vast superiority, excepting
in her draught of water, of our own turret ship over the
laminated armour turret vessels of the American and Rus-
sian navies, and we shall now proceed to narrate the events
of yesterday's trial, premising that the Royal Sovereign
now figures in the fficial Navy List as an iron cased cupola
ship of 3,963 tons, driven by engines of 800 horse power (by
Maudslay, Sons, and Field;, driving a common two-bladed
screw of 18ft diameter, and her length is 230 ft, and her ex-
treme breadth 631.
The Controller of the Navy arrived at Portsmouth by the
pfirst e
etrain d morning, and immediately
ftro"lthLe rocdffynar'desatenrddoany board the Royal Sovereign
—which was lying with steam up in readiness, Admiral
Sir Michael Seymour, G.C.8., (Port Admiral and Naval
Commander-in-Chief), Rear Admiral George Elliot (Super-
intendent of Portsmouth Dockyard), and Rear Admiral S.
C. 8., accompanied Rear Admiral Robinson on
C. Decres,
board the ship, where a large number of other naval officers

were assembled to witness the trial, including Captain
Hall, R.N., private secretary to the Duke of Somerset ;
Captain Sherard Osborn, C,8., the future captain of the
ship; Captains A. A. Cochrane, C,8., G. P. Hornby, C. 8.,
A. Phillimore Preedy, C.B , and H. Wills, of the Channel

fleet ; J. B. Dickson, of the Irresistible, screw liner; Com-
mander Simpson of the Victoria and Albert R .yal yacht,
and others. Mr. Evans, from the Hydrographer's Depart-
menthiifsm
atc 0 thep a
sses.Admiralty, was also present, regarding the
s
Captain H. Caldwell, C. 8., commanding
her Majesty's ship Asia and the steam reserve, at Potts.
mouth,h e
Rwoaysailn command, and conducted the day's trials.
T
Sovereign
steamed out of harbour tor Spithead
immediately Admiral Rubinson came on board, her draught
of water being 21ft 2in forward, and 24it 10in aft, her top-
sides (not measuring hor iron bulwarks, but from .1
of her side armour plating to the water-lino "le top
out of water amidships. Her engine.- , oeing 7ft 6in
steam was put on and the ship '-
measured mile with fu" eat through her runs at the
power the eogineP -, and half boiler power. At full
made 52 revolutions per minute, and the
true mean s- -
At hs''. were kept at slow
_peed of four runs was 11.006 knots per hour.
power two rune were made, the engines giving 421
.evolutions, the mean speed being B'l7l knots. In the most
successful trial the ship made as an unmasted three-decker

just fitted with her new machinery sho realised with lull-
boiler power a speed of 12'252 knots, but it was a calm, and
her draught of water was only 18tt Sin forward and 21tt 9in
aft. This gives an increcsed immersion of the ship yester-

terlay of fully aft, and the ship had also to contend against
a strong westerly breeze, whereas on her three-decker trial
it was a calm. Allowing, therefore, for the ship's increased
immersion, and the difference in the weather, the difference

in the ship's speed is satisfactorily accounted for, although
an additional half knot might have been attained, but for
the defective draught in the fires, which only admitted of

an average pressure of 171 b of steam being obtained instead

of full 201 b. This defect will, however, beat once remedied
by lengthening the funnel left. The ship has been eat
down, and the funnel has also been cut down until it has a

preposterously short length from its top to the top of th;
fire•gato. It is a matter easily remedied, and the ship win
then obtain abundance of steam from the boilers for the

service of her engines.

The ship was next tested in making circles, to ascohain
her turning powers, with full and half boiler power, with
results as follows :

Full-power.—To port, with ordir,s,
whsel eh deck.—
Helm got up in 1 min, to a^
..., n,oe of rudder of 16} deg.
The half circle marl- •
.z ~- t4„4, 21 sec, and the full circle
in 6 min 35 ''' '-'
I,u; ''''
- 52 to 10. To star-
board- -
. -Helm got up in 50 see, With2o
an angle rudder
aeg. The half circle made In 3 min 30 sec and the full circle
..., Rev oatuons of engines
of
in 6 min 51 sec. Revolutions of engines as before.
half-power, with ordinary wheel on deck-,-To Starboard
—Helm got up in 1 min 30 eec, with the rudder to An angle
of 24 deg. The half circle triad,: in 4 min 9 see, and the tall
circle in 7 min 3l sec. Revolttions of en,tir‘se 36 to 36.
Half-power, with pilot house wheel, which is fitted with
multiplying power__ To pot-r,--Helm up in 1 min 30 eec, with
the rudder at an angle of 404 17,,z. The half circle wade in
3 "'in 8 see, and fuli circ,le in 6 min 4 SPr. To starboard—
Helm up in 1 mi.:, 10 sec, with_ the rudder at an angle of 39
deg.
circle 'an 6 mist 34 sec. The revolutions of Shy engines were
Tn.', half circle iliade in 3 win 1g 'cc, and the full
'-‘1 both instances frcra 38 to Zi, 'there is a remarkable dif-
ference shown hone in the angles of the rudder obtained with
the tiro 'wheels, being no less than 40i deg by the pilot-
h.okino wheel against 101 deg obtained by the ordinary wheel
on deck. The diameter of the circle made by the ship was
much less with the pilot-hoLve wheel in use than it was
with the deck-wheel in use.
The temperatures were—during the flied run at the Ines.
sured mile—on deck 64 deg ; engine room, forward, 66 deg,
aft, 67 deg; stokehole, fore part, 108 deg., middle, 102 deg,
after Stoke
oke
deg,h
hole, part,
le engine
fore 2 d
room,egp
a; r
t, 4th
floorr
suwnadr aed i
gt , the6mB
middle
demeasured
lalafter
e deg,:
pi t 0
81 deg.
This concluded the trial of the ship at the measured
mile, when, in consequence of the lateness of the tido, shp
was steered back into Portemou.h harbour, and moored in
her old position alongeide the dockyard, which she wil! i
' alter ;2dpd'aeerg:

most probably leave again to-day to test the working of
her anchors and chains. The most interesting portion
of her trials, however, will be her run outside the Isle of
Wight, and the firing of tiler guns in different positions,
and there is every reason to believe this trial will prove to
be quite as satisfactory as the speed trial of yesterday. The
ship was very steady, and very little movement of any kind
was felt when racing over the course at the mile, except a
slight lateral movement in her turrets. Any recurrence of
a siu filar accident to that which occurred on her late prong
minary trial trip has been provided against as far as possible
by fitting expansion joints, &c., to her stop-valve boxes, bnt
the real value of these remedial measures can r.nly be tested
in moderately rough weather off the Wright. The ventila-
tion of the mess and berthing deck of the ship yesterday
appeared to be perfect, and there was also plenty of light,
The officers' cabins are unusually lofty (gained from the
arched de-A), and they also have abundance of light, The
ship's framing is ventilated on the plan of Staff-Surgeon
Edmonds of her Majesty's ship Victory, and on measuring
yesterday the strength of the current of air that was passing
up from the vessel's hold and bilges by the air shafting Into
the ship's funnel it was found to be moving at the rate 'of
31 ft per second, equal to 225,000 cubic feet per hour.
During the time the ship was making her full boiler
power runs at the mile Admiral Robinson, with Aomirals
Sir M. Seymour, Elliot, and Dacres, entered the third
turret and examined its sights for training and its general
fittings, together with the 160-pounder gun and its system
of elevation and depression—the different points of interest
being pointed out and explained by Captain Cowper P.
Coles, R.N.

It is a remarkable fact that these monster guns of the
Royal Sovereign attain an amornt of elevation such as can
be given to no other covered gun in the navy-18 deg,
The Royal Sovereign has so far, ae we said at the cormr
mencement of this report,
without doubt the 'proved a great success. She is
most formidable ironclad afloat, provided
she has water of sufficient depth to manoeuvre in, and we
think th,-
country may rest satisfied that, under the corn-
LOP'
..ird of so distinguished an officer as Captain Sherard Os-
born, if she should ever be brought under fire, she will do
honour to the British flag.