The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-30 00:00:00

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Naval and military
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N EW SPAPER

THE NAVY. £ a
Ten of the foreign manufactured armour-plates
supplied to the Admiralty by Messrs. Petin Gaudet
and Co., of France, have been selected at Portsmouth
for trial, and will be tested in the usual manner with
the 68-pounder gun in Porchester Creek, on Tuesday
next, under the superinten3ence of Capt. Astley C.
Key, C. 8., commanding the gunnery ship Excellent,
at Portsmouth.
Her Majesty's iron steam troopship Tamar, re-
cently built at Millwall by Messrs. Samuda, Wits yes-
terday despatched from Woolwich to Chatham to be
fitted for service. In getting under way one of the
yard, was
wnarrwcdeiatdgsaso.shrfio'tysfs offAeehmaseefTdpeteenarruhrdsptomalni.uiypurepf:aohetrtlhoe:atx.
rbe:
droettddihyoent oo,f
atgangwaynhde the
unfortunateandl a p s was
e ot
A new pilot lifeboat, 22ft. in length,Woolwichp
Davenporto builteskiegvlhfab-bztrydyii
tgstrh,
beltitlye_of,
ionrgde,
craonfntohtesßinokarbdyortiaAs
reason
oi rfaltthye,
bfrutiadnecnffseeftnerd-
ibiyislieird
cbays-esllarn.
dTuorpneenr
sttueranmedsot
voreers pd Ffii:lxe.d
,tiallbeesintaltolur.B:l.Weribltltto:lef
with The bwoaatterwihti cwhills
of middle
stretnrgutnhek ,n throughn
g
in about 15 seconds. The a
aiprnaedi
na
which
iehns ac
hraenimds
fastenedoinvsepa ebcleti,
ostnoo,
awwtshihtet
which
bhtbhoet
eahet
eeaxsfociopleryep
open
tiaothkuneebonef
purpose
uuhprteapsfl
ooso
s,rne g
her
lengthways. Should any water penetrate into the
trunk by any unforeseen mishap it can be cleared
out readily by the removal of some metal screws in
the lower part of the sides of the trunk. But should
the boat by any possibility ship a sea, filling her
entirely, it would run out is 15 seconds. If a small
quantity of water should find its way into the joints
of the cases they .can be emptied by taking up the
short piece of midship bottom board and the case
under each side. The sailing qualities of the life-
' boat were tested at various times in the river pre-
' paratory to her being despatched from Woolwich
her yard.
sailsO were
eornee occasionsets hed h
co
continued
tuirniun
egahe
with her gunwale 12 inches under water. The boat
is ordered to undergo an additional course of sea
trials at Devonport for the information of the Lords
of the Admiral 4. irgh coursewind
buoyantly

PR1CE.....-..4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

these guns were constructed before any experiments
upon them had been concluded. A statement has
been prepared by Mr. Whiffin, one of the Assistant
Accountants-General of the War Office, showing
the cost of guns and projectiles obtained from the

Elswick Ordnance Company, compared with the
rates of those produced at the Royal Arsenal, Wool-
wich. According to this statement, taking the
class of stores which have been supplied from
Elswick and from Woolwich, and which there-
fore admit of a direct comparison, the sum of
£242,173 10s• 61. on an expenditure of £393,275
10s. lid. would have been saved to the public had
these guns, projectiles, and fuzes, supplied by the
Elswick Ordnance Company, beer. manufactured in
the Royal Arsenal. The value of this comparison
rests entirely upon the accuracy of the principles
upon which the cost of the articles produced at
Woolwich has been arrived at, and the evidence on
this subject is conflicting. The committee believe
the Armstrong field-gun is the best known for field
purposes. His Royal Highness the Field-Marshal
Commanding in Chief states that, in his opinion, Sir
W. Armstrong's system surpasses in completeness
any other, and his conviction is that England in this
respect is ahead of any other country. Col. Bing-
ham, Adjutant-General of Artillery, states that

he is perfectly satisfied with the Armstrong
field-gun. At the same time, some of the
military officers examined state that, in their
opinion, we ought not entirely to rely (for field ar-
tillery) on breech-loading guns, as they are com-
plicated and liable to injuries from rough
handling and :various accidents, and are in-
clined to retain a proportion of muzzle-load-
ing guns for horse artillery. The failure of some
of these field!guns appears to have arisen from
faulty manufacture. With respect to the 110-
pounders, it is on all hands admitted that, although
useful as chase guns, they ought not to be intro-
duced into the naval service as broadside guns.
They were originally required for use against
wooden ships, and whilst not sufficiently powerful
for penetrating iron-plated ships, are as yet impel.-
feet for general naval service, owing to the diffi-
culty of managing and manufacturing the vent-
piece. Nevertheless, the 110-pounder is considered
by naval men of eminence in their profession as a
most valuable weapon in its present proportion to
the armament of a ship, and the Duke of Somerset
is of opinion that the navy has not got too many
of them. His grace states that "we have nothing
better now for close quarters than the 68 pounder,"
and concurs with all the naval witnesses in con-
sidering that in. the armament of her Majesty's
ships only a small proportion of 100 pounders
should be included. His grace farther adds, " that
it was not till we tried a 100 pounder and a6B
pounder against Captain Coles' copola that he be-
came aware that the 68 pounder struck a harder
blow than the 100 poander at short range." This
comparison was made when the charge of the 100
was 141b5.; it has now been reduced to 121bs. The
Duke of Somerset informed the committee the Ad-
miralty " had a report that the Armstrong gun bad
the greatest range and the greatest power of pene-
tration of any gun tried ; when they came to try it
themselves, that was not confirmed by the facts.
For naval purposes at 200 yards, it certainly had
not the greatest power; our old 68 pounder is a
mare powerful gun than the 100 pounder Armstrong
gun." The old 68 pounder is therefore the most
effective gun in the service against iron plates.
While almost every witness gave testimony to
the superior accuracy and range of the Arm-
strong guns, great doubts have been expressed
as to whether they are not too delicate a
weapon. But the officers who commanded
Armstrong batteries in the late operations in China
found no difficulty in keeping them in order in all
weathers and under all circumstances. The com-
mittee express a hope that the different systems,
not of Sir W. Armstrong and Mr. Whitworth only,
but of the other able men whose minds are now
engaged on ordnance questions, may be fairly expe-
rimented upon. A uniform system of accounts is
recommended for the manufacturing departments
at Woolwich, by which the cost of guns and other
produce may be clearly ascertained.

THE ARMY.
Yesterday the following troops left Chatham
garrison and embarked at Gravesend on board the
Star of India, of 1,045 tons, Capt. H. Morris, be-
longing to Messrs. Somes--viz., Brevet-Major S.
E. Jerome, V.C., Lieut. A. M. Handley, Ensign T.
B. Emerson, and 60 non-commissioned officers df the
Ist battalion of the 19th Regiment ; Lieut. E. D.
Oliver and 40 men of all ranks of the 51st (King's
Own) Light Infantry; and 128 non-commissioned
officers and men of the 109th Bombay Infantry.
Prior to the embarcation of the troops they were
inspected by Major-Gen. Eyre, who also visited the
Star of India at Gravesend in order to ascertain
that every requirement for the officers and men was
on board. The vessel will quit the Thames this
morning for Knrrachee, where the reinforcements
will be landed. - _

The following detachments of Royal Artillery at-
tached to the first division of the Depot Brigade in
the Chatham district have been placed under orders
to embark for colonial service—viz., 40 non-com-
missioned officers and gunners to embark for Gibral-
tar, to join the Ist Brigade; 30 gunners for Ber-
muda, to join the 10th Brigade; and 10 gunners
for Nova Scotia, to join the 15th Brigade.
The 2d battalion, Ist Regiment, will replace the
20th Regiment in Portsmouth garrison, from the
camp at Aldershott, on the 4th proximo. The de-
parture of the 64th Regiment from the camp for
Gosport has been deferred until the early part of
September.
The Himalaya screw troopship, Capt. Lacy, with
the 2d battalion 25th Regiment and a detachment
of the 50th Regiment on board, sailed from Spit-
head at daylight yesterday morning for Ceylon. In
the list of officers' names embarked belonging to the
25th Regiment, published in The Sun of yester-
day, that of Ensign A. H. Turner was inadvertently
omitted. The officers in command of the 25th,
Lieut.-Col. Henry Torrens Walker, was gazetted
to the Lieut.-Colonelcy of the regiment on the day
of embarcation, vice Lieut.• Col. and Brevet-Col.
Allan, retired.
A further reduction is announced to take place in

the royal gun factories at Woolwich. A number of
brassfitters and moulders were yesterday dismissed
from the Dial•square, a branch of the factory in
which all castings have recently been made. No-
tices have also been given for the dismissal of others
on Saturday next. The number of hands at pre-
sent employe& in the Dial-square is bnelotswonolOwmoe. num-
ber The
in
total number of workmen at the royal gun factories
aw
work few
on monthsover time.tig o w
as
The to upwardstotal doesof 3,0 o
500 of all grades.