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

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

The Lords of the Admiralty concluded their visit
to Portsmouth yesterday by inspecting the boys'
training ship St. Vincent, the officers and men of
the steam reserve, the gunnery ship Excellent, and
the Duke of Wellington, seamens' depot ship. On
board the latter vessel their lordships witnessed the
delivery of the men's baked dinners from the sup-
plementary oven, which has been supplied to the
ship on the plan of Mr. Superintendent Grant, of
the Royal Clarence Victualling-yard. Baked din-
ners were on this occasion served out to 410 men.
The application of Mr. Grant's principle to the
means of cooking on board her Majesty's ships
would be exceedingly economical, and would also
be a great boon to the men. Th© petty officers
were called up before their lordships and questioned
as to their preference for biscuit or soft bread,when
they replied that they should much prefer soft
bread as baked in Mr. Grant's oven. The bread is
therefore to be introduced into this ship, Where,
from the fact of its being a depot ship, and the crew
constantly changing, no savings are paid for biscuit.
Therefore all grumbling on the part of the men at
the introduction of soft bread, for which savings
are not allowed, is avoided. His Grace the Duke of
Somerset held a levee at the Royal Naval College.
Soon after noon the board took leave of the Admi-
rals and officials, and embarked on board their yacht
with the exception of Rear-Admiral Eden, Rear-
Admiral Robinson, and Lord C. Paget, who re-
turned to London by train. At 3 p.m. the En-
chantress, with the Admiralty flag at the main,
left for Cowes and Portland under the usual salutes
from the flagship and battery of the garrison.

In accordance with instructions received at Chat-
ham from the Admiralty, the first of the descrip-
tion of iron frigates to be constructed according to
Mr. Reed's plan is to be laid down at that dockyard
as soon as the resources of that establishment will
permit. The new frigate is to be appropriately
named the Bellerophcn, although she will be a very
different vessel from her namesake, which did such
good service in the naval wars at the commence-
ment of the present century. The new vessel,
although somewhat smaller than the iron ships of
the Achilles class, is intended to be superior, both
for offensive and defensive purposes, to any of the
iron steamers now afloat, while, from the several
improvements already effected in iron shipbuilding,
she is expected to be a first-rate sea-going ship.
The Bellerophon will be a little over 200 ft. in
length, or about 80ft. less than the Achilles, and
with a breadth of beam of 50ft. She is only in-
tanded to mount 12 guns, but these will be of the
most powerful description used in the service. The
versa will be incased. in iron armour-plating of 51
inches in thickness in her most exposed parts, and
4i inches in other portions of the vessel. She will
be fitted with engines of 1,200 horse power, in order
to enable her to steam 15 knots an hour. The Lords
of the Admiralty are desirous that the new iron
frigate should be completed and at sea within two
years from her being taken in hand, and, from the
resources possessed by Chatham dockyard for iron
shipbuilding, there is little doubt that she will be
finished within the prescribed period. With the
exception of the blocks being laid on No. 7 slip, no
commencement has yet been made in building the
new iron-cased frigate Lord Warden, which the
Admiralty several months since decided on building
in Chatham dockyard. This arises from the fact of
there being no hands that can be placed on the new
frigate, as every available workman in the dockyard
is employed on the iron frigate Achilles, in order
that she may be completed as speedily as possible.
In the meantime the hands in the sawmills are folly
occupied in cutting out the oak frame for the Lord
Warden, in order that the mechanics, when released
from the Achilles, may immediately commence
building that frigate. The Lord Warden
is to be constructed from the designs prepared
by Mr. Reed. She is intended to be of somewhat
larger dimensions than the Royal Oak, and will be
built with a stem which will project about 10 feet,
and which, being below her water-line, will be com-
pletely hidden. At the recent Admiralty visit to
Chatham dockyard their lordships directed some
additional machinery to be erected at the slip on
which the Lord Warden is to be constructed, which
will very considerably facilitate the progress of the
work. The intention of converting the line-of-
battle two-decker Bulwark, 91, and the Belvidere,
51, on the stocks at Chatham dockyard, to iron
cased frigates has been abandoned—at least for the
present.

The iron screw frigate Tamar, 3,500 horse power,
on being undoe!ked at Chatham, after her survey
by the master shipwright's staff, is to proceed to
Sheerness, where she is to be fitted for the first-
class steam reserve, in readiness for immediate com•
mission. She has been fitted with a poop, by which
additional accommodation will be provided for the
officers on board, it being intended to employ the
Tamar as a troopship. In addition to her usual
complement of officers and crew, she is fitted to
carry 80 officers and 1,000 troops.
The Duncan, old line-of-battle sailing ship, is to
be taken into No. 3 dock at Chatham, where she is
to be broken up by a party of shipwrights who ace
to be hired for that purpose. The Duncan has been
employed, until recently, as a hospital ship at
Stangate-creek, Chatham, but, on being surveyed
by the dockyard officials was condemned as unfii,
for further service.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—W. H. Fawckner, master, to
the Indus, for the Aurora ; Henry D. Sarratt, mas-
ter, to the Asia, for the Osborne ; Samuel Libby
(a), master, to the Fisgard, for the Black Eagle ;
John Jones, master, to the Cumberland, for the
Scylla ; Samuel Libby (b), master, to the Geyser ;
John Spinks, acting engineer, to the Snipe; Alex.
Smart, first class assist.-engineer, to the Snipe ;
and J. W. Smart, second class assist.-engineer.

THE ARMY.
The following notice has been issued from the
Horse Guards :

" August 7, 1863.
" No examination for direct commission will take place
for some months, Lut due notice will be given when the
date is fixed for the next examination."