The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 14, 1864.

Naval and Military Intelligence,

THE NAVY.

The America, targetship, at Portsmouth, is having
two 51 inch armour plates bolted on her sides, for
an experimental day's firing outside the harbour,
most probably on tho Horse or Dean Shoals, in the
vicinity of Horse Shoal Fort, with the Armstrong
7 inch shunt gun. The Duke of Somerset is expected
to be present. The gun will be mounted on board
the Stork gunboat, and the firing will be carried out
under the superintendence of Capt. A.G. Key, C. 8.,
commanding her Majesty's gunnery ship Excellent.
It is with regret we learn that Capt. C. P. Coles,
RN., has been compelled by the state of his health
to repair to Ventnor, Isle of Wight, on short leave
of absence from his duties in Portsmouth dockyard.
The Thunderer, old sailing liner, lately need as a
target ship at Portsmouth, is in No. 3 dock of that
yard, where preparations are being made to cut her
down to her orlop deck. This accomplished, the
deck will be strengthened and converted into a
permanent platform, on which will in future
be erected butts of the usual kind, and on
these butts will be laid the armour plates under
trial. Under these conditions greater certainty as to
the uniformity of the strength in the " backing" of
the plates can be arrived at than is now possible in
merely bolting the plates on the side of an old ship.
The Thunderer's platform is, however, only an in-
termediary measure, as it is intended, as soon as it
can be arranged, to test the armour-plates on shore
as targets and plates are tested at Shoeburyness.
It is understood that the Admiralty have decided
on constructing by contract five more screw troop-
ships after the designs of the Himalaya. As the de-
signs for these vessels must be furnished from the
Admiralty to the builders, we trust that no such
" improvements" as were introduced into the de-
signs of the Orontes will be introduced in any of the
new vessels, but that the new vessels, if built, will be
as nearly! as possible simply copies of the cele-
brated troopship. The Orentes, it cannot be for-
gotten, was designed at the Admiralty as an " im-
proved" Himalaya, and now she is in commission
and at work she has become tamed for the absence
of many of those excellent qualities in the posses-
sion of which the Himalaya stands pre-eminent.

Mr. E. J. Reed, the Chief Constructor of the
Navy, visited Portsmouth dockyard yesterday.
The iron-built screw steam troopship rkdventure,
2, Capt. Chas. L. Waddilove, appointed to embark a
detachment at Plymouth for conveyance to China,
arrived in the Sound yesterday, and was boarded
officially by Commander Ay len, the Queen's Har-
bourmaster. In consequence of the unhealthy state
of some of her crew she left Plymouth about a
week since for a sanitary cruise. Up to sunset last
evening she had not communicated with the shore.
It is, however, understood that no indication of any
special disease remains among the crew, of whom
there are on the sick list only six, the ordinary pro-
portion to a ship with her complement.
The fo,lowing appointments and promotions have
been made at the Admiralty ;—James B. Haines,
master, additional, to the Indus, for the Brisk ;
Charles Prickett, master, additional, to tho Cumber-
land, for the Clio; Charles R. Chamberlain, chief
engineer, to the Cumberland, for the Scout; Stephen
H. Moore, paymaster, to bo Secretary to Rear-
Admiral the Hon. Charles Elliot ; Charles H. J.
Collings and Charles N. Drew, assistant-paymaster,
for secretaries' clerks, to the Bombay; Alan G.
Grey, clerk, additional, to the Wellesley; Charles
W. Aylmer, nominated to a naval cadetship ; John
Leeson, of the Indus, Thomas G. Punnett, of the
Warrior, Thomas J. Warburton, of the Hector, and
William Bryan, of the Hogue, for the tenders, pro •
motes to first class assist.-engineers ; John R. Har-
vey, of the Rosario, J. Tapp, of the Jason, Charles
B. Hargrave, of the Foxhound, Thomas Halton, of
the Trident, and E. Wimshurst, of the Bacchante,
promoted to acting first class assistant-engineers.