The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-08 00:00:00

r c I:. ..4d.
1'i1211'1.1)

Naval and Military Intelligence.
'I HE NAVY.

ller Majesty's steam storeehip Supply, (Unman-
her cargo from Malta and Gibraltar, consisting of
der Bawden, R.N., having discharged a portion of
victualling stores, yesterday hauled alongside the
wharf at Woolwch, and commenced returning her
docl:yard stores.
The freightship Guide, from Gibraltar, yesterday
completed clearing out her cargo of returned war
stores at Woolwich, and was paid out of theservice.
' uto
smoo Royalue st Marineseerrd,
a y on
from
the o r
1 Woolwich,
1 Jinn The old 78 gunship Conqueror, fitted with a
screw propeller, is under orders to receive the bat-
th
a n
t.. f
ucoti.
s h
tthe following day.
The Lord Panmure, ordnance steamer, arrived at
Poi
el. h y
t acommandwith
ta
h e saila
To of
on
Lieut.-Col.
cargo of guns and dor nance stores, including the
two 12-ton 10.5
inch 300-pounder Armstrong guns
from Woolwich for the Excellent gunnery ship at
Portsmouth pro tern., but intended for service in the
turrets of the Royal Sovereign. One of these pieces
is rifled, and the other is a smooth bore. Both are
of Elswick manufacture. The performances of one
of Sir William Armstrong's
smooth bore 100-poun-
ders, now under trial at Portsmouth, is likely to
attract considerable attention from artillerists. The
100-pounder Armstrong smoothbore gun is pretty
well known, but it may be as well to state here that
it weighs 8 tons 641 b., has a diameter of bore of
8.9 in., a length of bore of Bft. Bin., and no
exterior length of lift. 2in., with a circum-
ference at thickest part of base of Bft. 3in.
With this gun experiments have been commenced
with steel shot and shell, but they have not suffi-
ciently advanced yet to furnish any detailed report.
What has actually been accomplished is this :
Spherical and steel shot have been fired from the
gun with 201 b. of powder, only a fifth of the weight
of the shot, and have penetrated through a
51 inch armour-plate, bolted on the side of the
Monarch target ship, and also through the side of
the ship itself, covering the deck of the target ship
with splinters of the ship's planking, timbers, and
iron knees, fragments of the broken plate, and of
the steel shot itself which had broken into small
pieces in its course. Never, perhaps, was the want
of an inner iron skin inside the wood backing of a
ship's armour more forcibly illustrated. The result
demonstrates the insecurity which must exist in
time of action for the seamen working the guns of
ships of the Royal Oak class, and the security under
like circumstances for the men in the Warrior class
of ship. To fully realise the importance of this fact
of a spherical shot fired from a smoothbore gun
passing through a 51,-inch armour-plate and the side
of a line-of-battle ship, it must be borne in mind that
this is the first known instance of the kind, and that
our greatest efforts in the same direction, which
have been made with the Armstrong 110 pounder
rifled gun and the 95cwt. 68 pounder smooth bore
have merely resulted in making an indentation of
2in. or less on the plate's surface; that is, when the
plate has been of equal quality with the plates
through which the steel shots penetrated. It must
not be thought, however, that the gun can claim the
entire credit of this result. In the majority of our
firing at wrought iron armour-plates we have dis-
charged with 161 b., 201 b., and at times, 251 b. of
powder 601 b. balls of soft gray cast iron. In firing
steel shot against wrought iron plates we have but
now taken up the principle we should have first
started with in the great contest of " guns against
armour-plates." It is evident that the destructive
penetrating power gained in these experimental fir-
ing trials is owing more to the nature of the projectile
than to the gun from which it was fired. If the War-
rior's side can therefore be destroyed by steel balls
fired from the old and despised 68 pounder, there
will be new data furnished for the study of our
artillerists and shipbuilders.
Yesterday the War Department transport Bomar-
sund shipped a large quantity of condemned ord-
nonce stores, guns, &e., at Chatham for Woolwich,
and afterwards dropped down the river to the Go-
vernment powder magazines at Upnor Castle, where
she also shipped a quantity of condemned shell.
The work of cutting away the granite sides of
the dock at Chatham in which the Achilles has been
constructed is being rapidly pushed forward by a
body of workmen under the direction of Messrs.
Foord and Sons, in order that no delay may be ex-
perienced in having everything completed for float-
ing the iron frigate out of dock on the 24th inst. A
party of workmen have arrived at the dockyard
from the engineering establishment of Messrs. Penn
and Sons, Greenwich, in order to commence fitting
the screw machinery on board the Achilles before
she is undocked.

The mechanics and labourers of the dockyard and
arsenal at Woolwich yesterday commenced working
overtime, to compensate for the loss of the Satur-
day following Christmas-day, which is to be held as
a holiday, so as to close the establishments during
the three successive days.
The third experimental 600-pounder Armstrong
gun, similar to those forwarded to the Excellent at
Portsmouth, is now ready to be shipped at Wool-
wich for Shoeburyness.

fitted at Shoeburyness,
of Mr. Baskcomb,
The new Bellerophon target, which has been
one
of
fndtehre
ftoh
re superintendence
emen
dockyard, and a body of shipwrights,
o f
Chatham
has been con-
structed by the Millwall Iron
Company, and is in-
tended to represent as nearly as possible a portion
of the proposed side of the Bellerophon, increased
frigate, which has been commenced at Chatham
dockyard. Its trial is looked forward to with the
keenest interest, as on the results will mainly de-
pend the form of construction which the first ofMr.
Reid's new ironcased frigates will take. The part
of the ship which is to be tested by the target is
that situated between the main and lower decks and
not in the line of ports, the object being to ascer-
tain the strength of the general side of the ship. As
the Bellerophon is to carry only a small number of
guns, special arrangements will be made to
strengthen the side of the frigate near the ports.
As the number will be small, it will be possible to
strengthen them by the introduction of additional
iron to an extent which could not be pract* b
Ica le if
the number were large. Each frame of the target
is made of angle iron 10in, long, alin. broad, and
-lin. in thickness, and two angle irons 3i„ • L,I 31
inches, and ;in. in thickness, rivetted L
"Tether To
ski
the double angle irons of this frame the ;n, which
.
is composed of two thicknesses of ,
3
4 Inch
with a layer of painted canvass between, plating,
On the outside of the skin plating Ween, is rivetted.
angle iron stringers are attach four horizontal
upper armour plate, niti, lo attached,, two under the
tin. thick, the broad fl long by 31in. wide, and
akin, and notflange being square to the
reaching
half an inch.
The other
behind the lower plate, two are placed
21in, wide, and ,i r'ate, and are 10in. long,
broader flange .11. thick. The breadth of the
nesS of the ,_
tic. being.
the same as the thick-
Contact
with° king, reaches out to and comes in
thick, is Work the armour. Wood backing, 10in,
Worked longitudinally on the skin plating,
and between
the angle-iron stringers, bolted with
nut and screw, bolt through the skin plating.: The
armour consist of two rolled plates Gin. thick, weigh-
ing upwards of nine tons each. The upper armour-
plate is fixed with bolts 22 in. in diameter. In one-
half of the target, divided vertically, the armour-
bolts have elastic washers, and are clinched on single
nuts. In the other half, the bolts have common
washers, with double nuts, and the bolts not
clinched. In the construction of the Bellerophon
target the mere capabilitiy of resisting shot and
shell has not alone been considered ; regard has also
been had in arranging its details to the satisfactory
and economical construction of an actual ship upon
the same plan. In erecting the target care has been
taken to support it behind with beam ends, &c., so
that the actual condition of the proposed ship's side
may be approximated to as closely as possible. The