The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-07 00:00:00

The Iron-clad Corvette Research.

A series of highly interesting and important gunnery ex-
periments took plat.° in the Channel, off Berry Head, on
Saturday last, on board her Majesty's iron-clad corvette
Ideeesrch, for the purpose of putting this new and experi-
mental ship to the severest tests which her fighting
capabi-
lities will have to undergo in actua! warfare, On a recent
occasion the firing of her guns at Devonport with full but.
blank charges produced some trifling dadamageto the furn!
ture of the vessel, owing, according to Lord C. Page t's state
ment in Parliament, to the neglect of some of thte usual
precautions that are taken in men of war when cle arie' gfor_
action and preparing to bring heavy guns into use.
have also reason to believe, although the fact was not state',
in Parliament, that, in addition to the decks being left
uncleared during the firing, the ship was subjected to the,
extraordinary and altogether unnecessary teat of having
every gun on board of her fired at once, with fuls charges'
of powder, and with the guns placed, not in the broadeidte
ports, but in certain fore and aft ports which are designedl
for occasional and exceptional use only. We need hard'''
say that there is no ship in the entire navy designed to Bus
tain the simultaneoue discharge of all her guns, but a return
which has been called for in the House of Commons shows
that the damage sustained by the Research, even under theses
circumstances, was but trifling, the cost of its repair ampule**
ing but to £24—£s for materials, and £l9 for labour.
The experiments on Saturday were arranged with (la'
regard to the objects with which the Research was de'
signed, and to the principles of her construction. The shire
steamed from Plymouth Sound at daylight in charge of bac
able commander, Capt. Wilmshurst, R.N., whose instruty
tions were to put her to thorough test under proper condi-
tions, firing shotted guns with full charges of powder singly
at all ports in succession, and concentrated broadsides of
rifled and round shot at the permanent ports, from the Arm.-
strong 110-pounders and 68-pounders of 95cwt. The rota.
proved the perfect capability of the ship in every respect to.
undergo this necessary but severe ordeal. Soon after pass-
ing the Start, finding the offing tolerably clear of shipping.
Capt. Wilmshurst manned the guns and cleared the ship
for action. The first shot was fired point-blank from the
68-pounder at the foremost starboard broadside port, with.
a full charge of 121 b of powder and a solid shot. The se-
cond quickly followed from the Armstrong 110-pounder orl
the same side of the ship, with the same charge and a long
shot of 1101 b. The guns at the opposite broadside were nest
similarly dealt with. After reloading with like shot and
charges, all four guns were " extreme trained" into posi-
tions the most unfavourable for them, that is, with their
breeches turned towards the armour-plated bulkheads, and
in these positions were successively discharged. The gun
in every instance remained well clear of the battery after
recoiling. Up to this point of the experiments all aper-
tures for the escape of smoke from the battery, excepting
the broadside ports, were kept closed, for the purpose of
ascertaining what would be the worst condition of things
during a close without special ventilation. The experi-
ment showed that an action might well be maintained
under the circumstances ; but the relief experienced
during the subsequent firing, by opening the bulkhead
doors, the battery hatches, and the ventilators over the
guns, were undoubtedly very beneficial. The nest firing Was
with the guns " extreme trained" in the opposite direction,
with unaltered charges, the result being equally satisfactory.
The guns at the broadside ports having thus being tried
singly under all practicable circumstances of difficulty, no'
thing remained but to discharge them in pairs on each broad
side alternately. This was accordingly done, with fall
charges of powder, on the starboard side first, and on the
port side afterwards. The shock in each case was severe'
but produced no effect whatever upon the ship. The etos
were " extreme trained" on both sides, and the shot met and
crossed each other at a very few yards from the ship's side,
diverging afterwards until they were more than a mile apart,
This completed the firing at the broadside ports. A thorough
inspection was then made by Capt. Wilmshurst and the 00-
cers of the ship, on deck and below, and n3t the slightest
sign of strain or breakage of any kind could be discovered,
although it is well known that it is a very rare occurrence ill°
deed for a man-of-war to clear for action, and much ulor,,
rare for her to practise all her guns with full charges eau
solid shot, without doing some sort of damage to her seiner
fittings.
The experiments might have ceased at this point if the
Admiralty and Mr. Reed had been content with seem:l3o4l-
- in this small sea-going iron-clad all that the much larger
ships can effect as regards range of fit e, for there is not in
Admiral Deere's squadron a single iron-clad ship capable et
firing fore and aft from within her armour plating. This
has, however, been attempted in the Research, and after the
firing described above all the guns were transferred to the
bulkhead ports, for bow and stern fire, loaded with fall
eharges,and discharged over the decks and through the long
ports in the ship's side. The guns were not fired together in
these positions, because as they bear in four entirely different
directions there can be no conceivable object in discharging
them all simultaneously. The jar upon the ship was more
marked at each discharge than it had been previously, and for
the moment it seemed incredible that the lighter fittings of
a ship could withstand such violent concussions ; but when
discharge after discharge had taken place a thorough el'
amination of the ship was again made ; b ut, with the excel'
tion of two small iron eyes, and two glass articles which had
b. en left on deck, no sort of damage was found to have been
done to the vessel or her fittings. In order to test to the
very utmost what the ship could stand, Capt. Wilmshurst
finally loaded the 68-pounders, which were now placed as
chase guns, with more than full charges, with 161bs. of
powder in fact, and fired them in quick succession along the
decks with less than 20 degrees; of the line of keel. On
renewed examination even this was found to have left every-
taing unharmed, the very pitch in the deck seams under the
muzzle of the guns being found absolutely undisturbed,
The experiments of the day were concluded by a Ben's
of manoeuvres intended to ascertain with what frequennY
the Research could ply an enemy with shot and shell while
chasing her. It was found that by diverging 16 deg. from
her course, she could bring the first gun to bear in 25 sec"
and, on reversing the helm, could bring the opposite one to
bear in 54 sec., returning to her course in 34 sec. more-
Thus, in less than two minutes, she can, at full speed, dis-
charge two guns right a head at an enemy, and return agel3
to the direct pursuit.