The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—When the Chief Constructor of the
Navy addresses a select assembly on the special
subjects of his profession it is certain that the inte-
rest taken in his communications will extend far
beyond his immediate audience. What the inhabi-
tants of Greenwich heard on Tuesday evening the
public at large will desire to know, and we charge
ourselves accordingly with the exposition of Mr.
Reed's views on War Ships and Shipbuilding for
the benefit of the country. These views were ex-
pressed at the Greenwich Institution with much
perspicuity and very little reserve, so that the
reader may learn exactly what we are doing in our
dockyards on authority which is not to be im-
peached. The successive " reconstructions" of our
Navy have been occasioned by successive discoveries
in the application of steam power, the science of
artillery, and the availability of iron armour for
the protection of floating vessels. Steam com-
pelled the change from sails to paddles, and from
paddles to screws. Just now the twin screw is
talked of as introducing us to another phase of the
invention, but Mr. Reed does not regard this device
as likely to have very extensive consequences. The
double screw will be useful, he says, in vessels of
light draught, but, where the draught of water is
sufficient, a single screw of a given diameter is
more effective as a propeller than two screws of
greater diameter together. A ship, for instance,
with a 85-feet screw would be faster than another
with two screws of ten feet each ; nor does our
Chief Constructor believe that even the turning
power of the double screw will be found to sur-
pass that obtainable from a single screw under
Judicious development. Steam, therefore, even
if still "in its infancy," does not threaten us
with any new revolution at present. On the
contrary, it is likely to be brought more conveni-
ently under control by an anticipated economy in the
use of fuel. Of guns Mr. Reed cannot be expected to
say much. This subject is only incidentally connected
with his department, and we shall have conveyed his
views on the matter when we state that he sees no
impediment to the employment of far heavier ord-
nance in a ship's battery than is used at present,
and that he believes these guns, however ponderous
they may be, can be carried in broadside ports with-
out recourse to the invention of turrets. When our
artillerists have produced the proper gun Mr. Reed
will be ready to mount and work it without any
innovation on the natural characteristics of good
sea-going vessels. Steam and ordnance being thus
disposed of, we now come to the great question of our
future Fleet; and we shall best introduce our ships in
prospect by a brief classification of our ships in pos-
session. We have actually got the Warrior andßlack
Prince of the first class, with the Achilles, the Agin-
court, the Minotaur, and the Northumberland in
various stages of progress, We have then got the
Defence and the Resistance, shorter, smaller, and
slower vessels than those of the former class, and the
Hector and the Valiant, of a class intermediate.
These are all iron built ships. Then we have five
vessels converted from timber ships of the line into
ironclads by the addition of armour—theßoyal Oak,
the Prince Consort, and the Caledonia afloat, and
the Ocean and the Prince Alfred to follow. We are
also constructing one ship and converting another
on the cupola or turret principle, and with these
specimens the catalogue is complete. We have now
to report the opinion of the Chief Constructor on
these various models, and to describe the improve-
ments which he represents as in contemplation.
Let us first mention that he confirms the suspicion
which we recently expressed, and announces dis-
tinctly that these two turret or cupola ships are n, t
designed for sea service, but are now proceeded
with simply as coast-going vessels or floating bat-
teries, available only for the limited duties per-
formad by the American Monitors. We add no
comment on this point at present, but confine
ourselves to the statement of the fact. As regards
the rest, Mr. Reed informs us that in all our first-
rate Ironalads we have committed a'mistake. The
Warrior and her consorts are swift, strong, and
powerful vessels, formidable to an enemy, and cre-
ditable to ourselves as beginners; but they are all
too long. The ordinary reader will hardly believe,
at first sight, in the importance of this fact, or be
prepared to recognise what Mr. Reed describes as a
great " discovery." Yet it does import a great deal.
The excessive length of these vessels makes them
difficult to steer and hard to manage ; while the
increased cost which it entails is really incredible.
Mr. Reed assures us that the curtailment of 100 feet
from theWarrioes lengthwould have saved £lOO,OOO
in the expense of the ship, besides relieving us from
the heavy incidental charges which the enlargement
of our docks must occasiou. He assures us also that
this great length was not required, and that it was
accepted solely under the mistaken impression that
the desired speed could not be obtained without it,
whereas the truth is that a shorter vessel could be
propelled just as rapidly. The new policy, there-
tore, of the Admiralty will consist in making our
first-rate ironciads shorter, handier, and cheaper,
and this is Mr. Reed's first disclosure. He next
gives us a very distinct opinion on the con-
troversy between wood and iron, and, without
pretending to absolute dogmatism, evidently places
wood on a level with iron for the framework of a
ship of war. He considers, and indeed asserts, that
the Royal 0.. k is as good a vessel as the Warrior,
and thus reeks our five converted ships with our
original ironclads. At this point of 'his discourse
he could not, of course, omit a reference to the dis-
tress of the Prince Consort in the late storm, and he
tells us, on the best authority, that she not only
never leaked or strained at all, but that she rode
out the gale with less damage to her structure than
would have been suffered by any old fashioned tim-
ber vessel. It happened that her bow port was
stove in, and that in her heavy rolling she shipped
a good deal of sea over all. The water thus ad-
mitted to her decks found its way to the hold, and
caused her distress, but there was no straining of
the fabric whatever. Mr. Reed proceeds even to
ask why there should have been, and informs us
that the centre of gravity is actually lower in an
iron-cased frigate than in an old two-decker with
all her guns and top hamper. So he roundly main-
tains that there is no argument against the employ-
ment of wooden frames which should exclude them
from use. There may, he admits, be a greater struc-
tural strength obtainable from iron, but not neces-
sarily a greater durability. Iron rivets, as we have
lately seen, are as apt to be corroded as wood is to
decay, besides which wooden bottoms are so plainly
superior to iron bottoms in one important respect
that the latter can only be effectually sheathed by
the interposition of a wooden skin. Then comes
the programme of novelties, and here the Chief Con-
structor has agreeable news to announce. The two
vessels built after his own designs, the Enterprise
and the Research, will, he tells us, be ready in a
few weeks, and that they were not ready earlier
has been the fault, he says, not of any dockyard
authorities, but of private contractors, who failed in
the supply of the requisite materials at the proper
time These ships, it will be remembered are in-
tended to prove that armour-plating can be effec-
tually applied to the smaller classes of sea-going
vessels, so that heavy guns may be carried to
any part of the world by iron-cased cruisers. But
Mr. Reed adds something more. Adverting to
the speech of Mr. Laird at Birkenhead, he says, "1
state with the most absolute fearlessness and confi-
dence that the Admiralty are now building a cor-
vette from which neither the Alabama nor the
Florida could hope to escape, and with which the
two together could not hope to contend fora single
hour." Thus, our private shipbuilders are at last
boldly challenged by our dockyard authorities, and
the trial cannot be far distant. In condensing what
Was a long as well as an elaborate address for the
use of the public, we have left ourselves but little
room for comment. We will only add, therefore,
that we seemed to have been pursued by our usual
fortune in discovering that the Warrior ought to
have been 100 feet shorter and £lOO,OOO cheaper
only when we have built two there ships like her,
and contracted for three others rather longer and
dearer still ; that it will be some compensation for
us if our converted ironclads are really as good as
our originals; and that we look with some impa-
tience, and the utmost interest, for that floating
phenomenon which is to whitewash the Admiralty
and carry off the championship from Birkenhead.
DAILY NEWS.—The little further
intelligence
received from Japan by the last mail only'
tent
been
show that the position of matters there has n -
'ye
materially improved by the terribly destruct.e
da
operations at Kagosima. Prince Satsuma, as w
i.
as r
y, Admiralandan pc ee rr ,t
aic claims isme
sense,
steo,
h *thvie;
, in
some reason. This deluded semi-barbarian may
paovsseibalcyhineovtecl wi a
ou
to e of
destroy the
first
naiions of the world," are intended have fallen into the error of supposing that naval
operations, when undertaken
nbdyed on
forti-
fications and disperse armed forces, rather than to
inflict death and misery on thousands of non-com-
batants. Looking at the enormous amount of
injury inflicted upon his subjects and upon
their property, he may naturally have con-
-tuded that there was some proportionably great
defo
-gs, to damage his defences and his troops; so
tae British squadron sheering off
shattered sides and tattered rigging, "to
with
hn he sea;
repair at Yokohama," while his batteries were little
injured, he presumed that he had been successful
in foiling a formidable attack. The Japanese mind
has not risen to the height of the great argument
propounded by Admiral Kuper's defenders in Lon-
don, that an assailing force is in no way responsible
for the devastation which may be caused. Looking
roughly at the matter, it concludes that the bom-
bardment of Kagosima was a very serious attempt
to suppress Satsuma, and that it was one which
tailed. Such, at least, appears to be the view en-
tertained by the Daimio who holds the entrance of