The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-04 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The extraordinary report relative to the turret-
ship Royal Sovereign, referred to in the" Naval and
Military Intelligence" cf 2he Sun of yesterday,
proves to be correct in all its anticipations, an order
having been received by the chief authorities of

Portsmouth Dockpard to ply the ship out of come
mission, and place her in the first-class steam reserve

at that pert. Parliament is not sitting, and the chief
members of our political Board of Admiralty are
away on their combined business and pleasure trip
to Malta,and,consequen tly, no reasons can be given
officially for this seemingly inexplicable proceeding
with regard to England's first turret-ship; but the
facts remain, nevertheless, for public consideration

and discussion. The Royal Sovereign has been bat

a very short time in commission. She is a vessel of
an entirely novel class, and one that from recent
American naval operations we are deeply interested
in testing in every respect. Her crew have not
been together long enough yet to learn their turret

gun exercise sufficiently to take the ship into action•
The ship herself has not been tested either in her
behaviour in a seaway or in the working of her

turrets and guns further off the land than in Port-
land-race. Her officers have been put each to some

£5O expense in joining the ship for an ordinary

term ofcommiesion ; and, in fact, there are a hun-

dred other cogent reasons against this inexplicable

step of putting the ship out of commission. It is
openly asserted in naval circles at Portsmouth—and
that, too, without distinction of rank or position—
that the success of the turret►ship has been so
marked that the advocates of the broadside gun

,principle, now paramount at Whitehall, have caused
this order to be issued for the Royal Sovereign to

haul down her pennant.

The following returns of the trials of the Channel
fleet under sail on the Ist, 21st, and 23rd of Sep.
tember have been forwarded to us from the fleet :

Sept. I.—At 2 p.m., up screws and started on star-
board tack off Berry Head. Wind westerly—
course, south-westerly—sea, smooth—speed, 6 to
7 knots. Position at starting :—Edgar to winds
ward of Black Prince, 801 yards—Prince Consort,

1,290 yards—Enterprise, 1,301 yards—Hector, 22
yards—Defence, 1,404 yards. 3 p.m.—Wind,

W.S.W., 6 to 7—course, south—sea, increasing—
speed, 7to 8 knots. Edgar to windward of Black

Prince, 1,790 yards—Prince Consort, 2,475 yards
—Enterprise, 2,050 14 746 yards—Hector, 1,050
1,028 yards—Defence, 1,650 yards. 4 p.m.—Wind,
variable, Edgar to windward of Black Prince,
2,760 yards—Prince Consort, 2,700 yards—Enter-
prise, 1,850-200 yards—Hector, 2,210 yards—
Defence, 1,790 yards. 5 p.m.—Wind W. by S.,
5 to 6—course, N.W, to N.W. by N.—head to sea

—speed, 4 to 5 knots. Eigar to windward of Black
Prince, 1,530 yards—Prince Consort, 1,420 yards—

Enterprise, 510-1,340--Hector (?) 127-2,093

Defence, 340. The Edgar on opening the Start
Point experienced a head sea--the other ships being
far astern, and under the land, were in smooth
water, and kept the wind to the westward off the
land. Sept. 1-6 p.m.-Wind, W.S.W., sto 6-
course, southerly-see, decreasing (under the land)
-sail, as before-speed 4 to 5 knots. Edgar to
windward of Black Prince, 3,690 yards-Ptiece
Consort, 3,090 yards-Enterprise, 1,410 yards-
Hector, 2,350 yards- Defence, 1,175 yards, Here
the ships had got together again, and were sailing
on the same terms under land. The whole result
was that the Enterprise between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.
had lost on the Edgar only 106 yards, but the 4
p.m. and 5. p.m. diagrams show how it happened.
September 21t.t, cff Portland-All plain sail.
Wtod, W.N.W-speed 3 knots-head to sea. 9 30
a.m.- At starting Edgar to windward of Hector,
140 yards-Prince Consort, 3,150 yards-Enter-
prise, 1,750 yards-Black Prince, 405 yards-Re.
search, 2,183 yards-leeward of Defence, 865 yards'
10 30 a.m. -Edgar to windward of Hector, 360
yards-Prince Consort, 3,440 yards-Research,
3,110 yards-Enterprise, 4,110 le 2,350 yards-
Bleck Prince, 78 yards-leeward of Defence, 1,050.
11 30 a.m.-Wind variable, westerly. Edgar to
windward of Prince Consort, 3,450 yards-Re-
search, 3,580 yards-Enterprise, 1,730-2,450
yards-leeward of Hector, 2,250-2,610 (P)
yards-Defence, 1,490 yards-Black Prince, 339
yards. 0 30a.m.-The trial recommenced. Wind,
W.S.W. ; other conditions as in the morning.
Edgar to Windward of Black Prince, 1,100 yards;
Defence, 9,980 yards-Hector, 5,070 yards-Re-
search, 4,600 yards-Enterprise, 1,750 yards-
Prince Consort, 6,840 yards. 130 p.m.-Edgar to
windward of Black Prince, 2,050 yards ; Hector,
5,730 yards-Research, 5,180 yards-Enterprise,
1,880 M 130 yards-Defence, 3,520 yards-Prince
Consort, about 7,680 yards. 230 p.m.-Edgar to
windward of Black Prince, 2,190 yards-Defence,
3,900 yards-Enterprise 2,580 01 700 yards-
Prince Consort, about 6 miles-Hector about 7
miles-Research, about 5 miles. 3 30 p.m.-Edgar
tacked to windward of Black Prince. 3,030 yards-
Enterprise (distant 7 or 8 miles), 2,430-150 yards
-Defence, 4,200 yards. 4 p.m,-Edgar to winds
ward of Black Prince, 3,180 yards-Defence, 3,480
yards-Research, 6,770 yards-Enterprise (distant
2 miles) 1,530 yards.
Thus the whole remit showed the Enterprise
gained on the Edgar 220 yards, though in each
hour when they had been near one another she
lost. In the last tack the Edgar fell off three quar-
ters of a point, giving her on the opposite tack a
corresponding gain.
During the trials it was found that the Enter-
prise leaked considerably at the junction with her
topsides and armour belt, and Mr Ladd, her builder,
has visited the ship to examine and report upon the
leak, which is believed by the officers of the squad-
ron to be very serious. A very strong feeling is
expressed in the squadron against officers and men
being sent on board quasi ironclads of the Enter.
prise class, which, they say, are neither watertight,
nor shot proof against the despised 68-pounder, nor
possessing the speed of a bona fide man-of.war.
The screw corvette Cadmus, 21, 400-horse power,
was undocked at spring tide at Chatham yesterday
afternoon, during a high north-east wind, and
safely berthed alonside the floating sheer-hulk
Chatham in the harbour abreast the dockyard.
During the time the Cadmus has been in dock, a
period extending over several months, she has un-
dergone a most complete repair, and she is now a
first class vessel of the corvette description, ready
in all respects for service in any part of the world.
She has been furnished with new decks, and the
decayed portions of her stern and rudder posts, as
well as her stern timbers, have been made good ;
in addition to this extra knees have been placed to
strengthen her deck beams. She has also been
fitted with a topgallant forecastle, for the protec-
tion of her crew in unfavourable weather, and this
arrangement will add to the comfort of the men,
the Cadmus, as well as most of the corvette class of
vessels, being rather down by the head, and there-
fore very wet during a rough sea. Opportunity
has been taken during the time the Cadmus has been
under repair to overhaul her engines and machinery
which have been thoroughly repaired, and several
defective parts of her boilers made good. She has
also been fitted with a new screw propeller of the
Griffiths pattern, and the old;Adrniralty screw re-
moved. The Cadmus is complete in her rigging,
and is now ready to hoist the pendant. The deck-
yard mechanics were at work on board up to within
a few minutes of the corvette leaving the dock, and
there is still a trifling amount of work to be executed
- in the way of fittings to the cabins and painting up