The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-26 00:00:00

ships which we are building by contract, and also in our
steam engines. There is a new item in the vote for which
I must ask the sanction of the committee. We propose to
build six gunboats on the twin screw principle. They
are to be of 700 tons, and to carry two powerful guns.
They will be armour-plated to the water-line, and have a
limited space on the upper deck to carry these guns.
W e expect in this way a very handy class of vessels for
rivers, at a light draught of water. For this purpose we
shall ask for £64,000 this year, leaving the rest—the whole
cost being £120,000. That is the only new thing we pro-
pose to do by way of shipbuilding by contract during the
coming year. Adverting now to the increase of £162,400 in
vote 8, for workmanship, I wish to state why I ask you to
agree to that vote. I may state here that the number of our
armoured ships built and building are 25, exclusive of the
gunboats to which I have adverted. Of these there arc
seven in commission, six that can be ready by the middle of
this year, and six more that can be ready by the end of the
year, the remaining six, which will be ready in the course
of next year, making up the 25 armour ships. This time
last year we had 21, showing that we have added to the
navy four armour ships during the year. What a marvellous
creation it is that, in the course of five years, we should
have completed 21 of these armour ships. I will now deal
with vote 8, which has reference to the workmanship in the
dockyards, to show the grounds on which I ask this in-
crease. I will make a comparison between what we have
done during the past year and what we propose to do in the
next year. 1 will state a return of the rates and tonnage of
armour ships which have been built between April 1 and
Dec. 31, 1863. The armour ships equal 5,807 tons, the
non-armour ships, 683 tons. now, what we propose to do
in the coming year is to build of armour ships 13,604
tons, and of non-armour ships 4,404 tons. We have in
our dockyards seven armour ships under construction,
and we propose to keep our dockyards very much more
active in the way of construction than during the past
year. With regard to non-armour ships, we are going
to build a new c-1454 of vessels, capable of doing such ser-
vice to their owners as the Alabama. We are desirous of
building such vessels of great speed for the purpose of
cruising, to replace the smaller vessels. The next subject
fur which we shall require an increased vote is for the re-
pairs and refitting of vessels. I wish to state that the con-
dition of our non-aemour skips not so satisfactory as I
could with. The activity in the production of armour-
plated ships has prevented us keeping up our repairs as
they ought to be. In the next year we expect to commis-
sion sixty-four ships, which means that the sixty-four ships
they will relieve must come into our hands for therc,ugh re-
pair. Our ordinary reliefs arnount to fitty-five ships, against
the siVi-forar this year. There is another increase arising
front the demand for drill ships. lam glad of this
demand, because it shows our reserves are in a healthy
state, but it all represents a large amount of labour in
the dockyards. There is another itens of 97-4p?,44.6 arising
from our'being ,tuts of tr4l34iiion with regard to
steam engines and boilers. Every day there are new in-
ventions, such as super-heating, surface-condensation,
diminished consumption of fuel, and a variety of matters
which ,mill tets:el ultimately to giye greater speed to our ships
with economy of fuel, but in the meantime we have to alter
the engines at great expense, and these things are perpe-
tually getting out of order. This represents an annual
proportionate increase in the vote. There has also been an
increase of 20 per cent, in the outlay for the comfort and
convenience of officers and seamen, for snob items as von-
tilaticsn calsins, furniture, and other charges, which repre-
sent a large increase ir. the work of the dockyards, lion.
gentlemen suppose that, because wo have now armour-
plated ships, we need not keep such large fleets at
sea. That does not enable us to reduce our squadrons a
bit. This return shows that out of the foreign squadrons
of 156 ships not loss than 113 were detached single
ships. Now, it would be impossible to have for such ser-
vice 119 armour-plated ships ; so that you must have a large
number of small vessels. That is why you require to keep
up your dockyards and your large stores of wood, copper,
and ether things. When gentlemen say, " Build iron ships ;
they will never get cut of repair," I
,cannot resist giving
you the case of an iron ship—not that I consider it concha.
sive, but simply to show that there are great disadvantages
to contend with in iron sh ps—the Megasra, one of our iron
transports, which had only been seven months out of docks,
and eontinually making voyages. They suddenly founa
that they could get no steam. They were rendered per
fectly helpless, If a man of war had been after her, she
would have been taken to a certainty. It was found that
this had been caused by her supply pipes getting choked
up by shell-fish, co that they could get no steam. That is
one of the illustrations of the difficulties of iron ships. I
should like to ask the hon. member for Birkenheao (Mr.
Laird) whether the " 290," which his son built, could have
cruised as she has done, and captured the vast number of
vessels she has, if she had been an iron ship. Why, she
must have been in dock half a dozen times. I wish to show
the progress which this country has made in constructing
armour-plated ships from the Warrior to the Bellerophon,
which is now building. The Bellerophon is a most remark-
able vessel, and this is what it is expected she will do : She
is of 4,200 tons burden, against 6,000 tons of the Warrior,
and she will carry plates 6 inches of iron in thickness along
her ent ire length, and one inoh and a half of steel ; and she
will throw a broadside of three-quarters of a ton of iron
and steel. During the last four or five years the Govern-
ment were forced to proceed, and they had no time to see
whether one class of ships would answer better than ano-
ther. Within that period the exertions of the French dock-
yards ware enormous, and we were induced to order the
construction of the Black Prince. But it occurred to us
that such veseels had one great defect—they were very we

adapted to catch other ships, but they were useless in a
rnele6, because they could not turn quickly enough, It was
therefore determined to build the Resistance and the Dc-
fence, which were of about 4,000 tons burden. They were
certainly &mailer, cheaper, and handier than the Black
Prince ; but then, unfortunately, they had much less speed.
Well, you cannot have everything. And now it occurred
to us that all these vessels possessed one defect, and that
was the very limited area for fighting. During all this time
it should be borne in mind, we had only to contend against
the 68. pounder and 110-pounder Armstrong gun, and all
the world now knows that the pivot of the whole thing is
the guns. At that time it was c )nsidered that a vessel
would be impregnable for all practical purposes if she could
withstand the 68-pound and 110-pound Armstrong guns;

for though Mr. Whitworth had shown the marvellous
penetrating power of his gun, yet we had no
gun to equal the CS .pounder and 110-pounder guns.
After the Hector and the Valiant had been built, the Go-

vernment thought the time had come when we ought to
have some check upon contractors, and that we ought to
construct one of these armour plated ships in one of our own

yards. Chatham dock was accordingly fixed upon, and I
think all will concur that that was a very wise step on the

part of the Government. The Achilles was accordingly laid

down at Chatham. At this time it became necessary that
wo should ascertain what was the best quality of iron, and

that we should have a series of experiments as regards that
matal, and a committee was therefore appointed by the Ad.

miralty, and requested to inquire fully and report upon the

_ .
matter. One of the first things which the committee proposed
was that we should build with thicker plates and less backing,

by which means we should get greater strength and other ad.

vantages. The Government having considered the whole

question said it was necessary that we should have a perfect

the highest possible speed with the
man-of-war, combining

greatest fighting power, and armour-plated throughout.
ordered to be armed with
Three ships were consequently

51-inch plates, as the committee had recommended. Now,
it is perfectly true that the si-inch plates did not succeed,
but at that time cur knowledge of the manufacture of plates

was more limited than it is now. About the same time the

hon.% urged upon us that it was absolutely necessary that
we should go on building ships. We then had five lino•of-

battle ships in course of construction, and we considered

completed, so it was resolved to build hey could be quickly

five more—the Royal oak, the Prince Consort, the Cale-

donian, the Royal A:bert, and the Asia. Ido not believe

any of our ships are impenetrable against the guns which
have since been invented, but they were the best we

could build at that time. One great defect of the armour
plated ships was their enormous size, and to remedy this
drawback Captain Coles undertook to construct a cupola
ship of 2,500 tons, and was accordingly ordered by the Ad •
miralty to construct such vessel. It was important to note
this took place before wo received intelligence of the con-

:est between the Monitor and the Merrimac. The Royal

Sovereign was cut down, and I have no doubt that during
this discussion the Admiralty will fps blamed for not finish-
ing that vessel, That, however, is not due to any fault of
the Admiralty, but to the circumstance that there have

been great difficulties in getting ready the plates andthe

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component parts of the— turrets. For it was Captain
Coles's earnest desire to alter and improve his vessels

as he went along. (Hear, hear.) I think it only fair
that these „facts should be stated, but I do not blame

Capt. Coles. Oa the contrary, I think we ought to get
the very best article he can produce. This year Mr. Reed
came to the Admiralty and proposed to build a vessel much
smaller, handier, cheaper, and safer, and completely armour
plated. He said our first object should be to make the water
line safe, even at the expense of some fighting qualities.
(Hear, hear.) Accordingly he c )nstructed two ships, and I
can assure the committee we have every reason to be satis-

lied with them. I will now inform the house what-theGo-

vernment has done since the discussions of last year. First
we commenced two wooden ships, the Lord Clyde and the
Lord Warden, which will have considerable speed and a
heavy battery. They are iron plated throughout, and they
have this advantage--they have not only 41 inch plates,
but also an inch and a half inside the backing of the plates,
thus giving them superior qualities for resisting

lot and shell. Then there is a small line•of-

battle ship, the Zealous, built from Mr. Reed's principle.
There is also one wh eh, if it succeeds, will ba one of the
most remarkable shire in our navy : it is called the Pallas.
The vessel is of a vety remarkable form, adopted from the
Freacb. She will be the fastest ship in the navy, and she
carries a very limited battery. Then there is the Bellero-
phon, which, while tarowing the heaviest broadside of any
ship we shall have, rill at the same time have speed nearly
if not quite equal to the Pallas. Altogether, there are
twenty-five ships building. And now I must advert to
the question of guns, for that is the pivot on which the
whole question turns. Now, in dealing with guns.
it is important that we should wholly separate ships
49113 f9rto) bicawn i>3 ships we erg t 9