The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-19 00:00:00

THE ROYAL OAK.

This magnificent frigate resumed and concluded
her trials at Portsmouth on Wednesday, and con-
cluded them with an almost unparalleled degree of
success, both in her steering and in her steaming
qualifications. The trials of the day were again
under the direction of Capt. Broadhead. The ship
had secured her anchor by 10 a.m., and as she stood
out to the southward and passed the fine wooden
frigate Orlando, of 51 guns, and 1,000 horse power
of engine, the band of the latter ship struck up
" Auld Lang Syne," which sounded like the wail of
the noble looking ship on her gory being eclipsed
by her iron sister. The weather was again very
fine, and favourable for bringing out the ship's
power, there being a light westerly summer breeze,
with smooth water. By the time the steam was
well up and all ready below, the ship had gained an
offing outside the Calver Cliffs, at the east end of
Sandown-bay, where advantage was taken of the
space to make the required number of circles with
four boilers, or two-thirds of the ship's power•
These were made with the following results:—

let circle 2d tittle Circle to

to port. to port. starboard.
Time occupied getting up helm im. Os. .. lm. 255... lm. 325.
Angle of rudder. . 25 deg... 28 deg. .. 26 deg.
Turns of wheel

Time occupied making half-circle 3m 75... 2m. 58s .. 2m. 588.
Ditto, full circle 6m. 215... 6m. 65... sm. 445.
Revolutions of Engines previous
to putting up thc helm 4B
Revolutions afterwards

•• 52 ..
.. 47 ..

Men at wheel

6 ..

These three circles being considered a suffiaient
test of the ship's steering power under two-thirds
force of her boilers, the ship was steered in for Spit-
head, and placed on the trial ground in Stokes-bay
to make four runs at the mile with the same amount
of boiler power. The results of the four runs were
thus :--

No. of Time. Speed of Revolutions Pressure
Runs. min. seC. Ship of Engines. of Steam. Vacuum.
4 51 ....12.371 ...... 516 ... 23 .... 24
2 6 0 ....10.000 ...... 53 23 .... 231
3 4 53 12'287 ...... 61
4 6 8 .... 0183
........ 23 .... 24

Mean speed of the ship at two•thirds power-
-1.126 knots.

Steam was next got up in the remaining two
boilers, and two circles made with the ship's full
boiler power :

First Circle Second to
to Poit. Starboard.
Time occupied in getting up helm ....Im. 30s. lm. 3. s.

Angle of rudder 264 deg. .... 22 deg.
Turns of wheel
Time occupied in making half-circle .. 2m. 47 5..... 2m. 475,
Ditto full circle .. 15m. 27 5..... sm. 2345,
Revolutions of Engines previous to put-

ting up the helm
62
Revolutions after yards

Men at the wheel

.. 60
.. 53

.. 6

With the exception of testing the facility with
which the machinery could be worked in answer to
the engine-room telegraph, the ship's official trials
were now concluded, and these closing tests gave
their returns as follows :—Engines stopped dead,
from time of moving telegraph hand, in 55 secs.;
engines working astern at full speed from rest, do.,
in 18 secs.; engines from full speed astern to full
speed ahead, from do., in 13 secs.
The " indicated" horse-power of the Royal Oak
on her full boiler power trial of speed at the mea-
sured mile on Monday was 3,704 horses, and on her
four boiler power trial (two-thirds of her boiler
power), 2,998 horses.
It is a remarkable fact that the Royal Oak's trial
of speed at Portsmouth, with all her guns, stores,
provisions, Sec., on board,—in fact, ready for sea,
should have exceeded in speed that obtained in her
light-draught full-power trial off the Maplin Sands;
yet such is the case. At Portsmouth she drew 23ft.
Bin. forward, and 25ft. Tin. aft. Off the Maplin
Sands she drew only 20ft. 4in. forward, and 23ft.
lin. aft. This gives a difference of about 900 tons
in the ship's displacement, and yet a greater speed
was obtained by the assistance only of a few pounds
of steam, for herein lay the secret.

The Royal Oak must be considered entirely suc-
cessful on all points of steaming and steering, and
will furnish Lord Clarence Paget with a strong
argument in his place in'the House of Commons in
favour of Admiralty shipbuilding. It is an undeni-
able result of the ship's three days' trials that she
is, taking into calculation her engine-power and
displacement, the fastest ship in the English Navy,
and in her steering capabilities cannot be approached
by any vessel the Admiralty have on their list above
the size of a gunboat. Her circles completed at full
power in 5 degs. 27 min. and 9 degs. 231 min. re-
the vessel's size and
turning in obedience
to her helm. In her feats of speed the results
s length,Pee tivcw] Ye
nsdheorwfu,
lcopnoswideerrsinofg
obtained in ber "one-third" and "two-thirds"
boiler-power trials are equally satisfactory with
the results obtained with her full power of
six boilers. The vibration experienced during the
trials was more than is experienced on board
either of the four iron ships, but it was much
—very much less than would have been experi-
enced on board a wooden frigate during trial.
What motion there was experienced was lateral. At
the close of the trials, on anchoring at Spithead, the
lower portsills were, amidships, Bft. 3in, from the
water-line. The guns on the main deck are dis-
tributed in the following order;-24 95 cwt. 68-
pounder solid shot guns, and eight 110-pounder
Armstrong—the latter placed on the bows and
quarters.
It is impossible to close the notice of the trials of
the Royal Oak without referring to a required