The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-23 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence

THE NAVY.
The gunboat Trinculo, tender to the flagship
Revenge, which arrived on Friday afternooon in
Plymouth Sound, left the Tagus on the 14th, and
reports that Admiral Smart intended to leave on
the 16th inst. for a cruise.

The water was on Friday admitted into No. 3
dock at Portsmouth, and the Royal SovereigN,
which has been converting there from a three-
decker to a turret-ship since April last, was floated
off her blocks. There was considerable mystery
observed by the dockyard officials as to the cause of
this somewhat unexpected operation. The true
reason was, however, obvious enough. The ship
t.as not been afloat since she lay alongside the jetty
of the dockyard in April, partially dismantled, and
it has therefore been found necessary to put her
in the water again, and obtain her draught of
water now that her hull has been transferred from a
three-decker of 131 guns to the wooden shell of a
turret ship. On the water rising in the dock to a
sufficient height, the ship was lilted off her blocks
at a draught of 13ft. Bin. of water forward, and
17ft. sin. aft, the water line being just below the
lower portion of the added longitudinal planking
which supports the 7in. of crossed diagonal teak
planking which has been added to the ship's ex-
ternal topsides to strengthen her and assist in car-
rying her 51in. armour plates, and also supports in a
rabbit the lower edges of the bottom tier of armour
plates. At this draught of water, therefore, the
embryo turret ship was floating, the only weights
lin addition to the wooden hull being her machinery
complete as an 800 horse power screw steamship,
ten of her huge 51in. iron armour plates on her
sides partially completed in their bolt fastenings,
and 30 of the lin. iron plates or the upper deck
beams underneath her Bin. wooden deck planking,
which lay on the beams of her upper deck. In
measuring round her topsides to ascertain their
exact height from the water line, it was found to be
—Amidships, 15ft. 2in. • on the quarters, 15ft. sin.;
and on the bluff of the bows 161 t. Her estimated
draught of water when ready for sea, with every-
thing on board, is 20ft. 3in. aft, and 21ft. 9in. for-
ward, which leaves, at the ship's present draught,
an additional immersion of the hull of 7ft aft and
Eft. 4 in. forward, to carry the undoubtedly enor-
mous weight which has yet to be put on and into
the ship. This weight will be comprised chiefly in
the following items :—Four turrets of 80 tons each,
320 tons ; armour for aides, fastenings, and deck
plating, 1,000 tons; anchors, 27, and cables 72 tons,
99 tons; messengers and fittings, 6 tons 13 cwt.;
boats, 12, and firellearth, 8, 20 tons; men and effects
(280 men), 44 tons; boatswain's and carpenter's
Mtores, 85 tons ; armament, say (what it ought to be),
100 tons; shot, shell, and gunner's stores, 170 tons;
powder, 30 tons; water and tanks, 30 tons; coals,
600 tons; and provisions and victualling stores, 72
tons. The whole weight will be 2,576 tons 13 cwt.
There are the steam capstans, auxiliary engines for
working them, the internal fittings of the ship, and
many other smaller items,all amounting to a goodly
total, that are not included, of course, in the above,
but which will materially add to the weight to be
carried by the turret ship. The extra displacement
the ship will gain by her increased section from her
diagonal and longitudinal planking and armour
plating to sft. below her water line, will of course
give her additional carrying power; but this will no
doubt injuriously affect her speed, not only by the
increased size of the hull to be driven through the

water with a given power, but also by all event of
relative proportions in the bottom of the hull, owing
to the abrupt ending of the additional planking at
between 7ft. and Bft. below the line of flotation.
Our space prevents us entering further into. this
question than to observe that had the crossed diago-
nal planking been carried trom the ship's tops Hes to
her keel the original form of bottom would have been
preserved, and if this had been further supplemented
by 4fin. side armour in lieu of 52in., the Royal Soya
reign, when ready for sea, with her armament, coals,
and stores on board, would have floated higher out
of the water, have been a better sea boat, and have
attained a higher rate of speed under steam than
she can be hoped pos-ibly to be or have under the
present conditions of her conversion. The draught
of water of the ship, when floated in dock on Fri-
day, was, however, less than had been expected, and
we as yet see no reason for altering our opinion
before expressed that the Royal Sovereign, when
ready for sea, will be a sufficiently seaworthy vessel
to be able to go with perfect safety as far out from
the land, and in again, as her coals will carry her.
When brought:down Portsmouth harbour and placed
alongsid the dockyard on the 2d of April lest, on the
order being given by the Admiralty for her conver-
sion on Capt. Coles's cupola shield plans, the Royal
Sovereign drew 23ft. Bin. of water aft, and 24ft.
10in. forward. She had on board her lower masts
and lower rigging (of wire) fitted ; 400 fat horns of
21 inch chain cable, one hemp cable of 23 inches,
and one of 18 inches, both 100 fathoms in length,
and two bower anchors of 99 cwt. each ; 85
tons of water, and 67 tons of tanks, besides her ge-
neral fittings, but had neither guns, carriages, nor
shot on board. The weight of her hull alone at that
time, calculating troth the Admiralty tables and the
tonnage given in the official " Navy List," must
have been 3,144 tons. We shall not attempt to work
out the figures given with a view to ascertain
whether the estimated draught of water of theßoyal
Sovereign as a turret ship will be found correct or
not, when she isready for sea, as that is a purely
scientific question. The experimental conversion of
the Royal Sovereign must, under existing circum-
stances, be looked upon as chiefly intended to decide
the all important question of central versus broad-
side gun armaments tor the future English navy.
We are depending upon our American brethren at
present for the solving of a great principle in naval
warfare, and the sooner we complete the Royal So-
vereign and solve it for ourselves, and by our own
experience, the better for our credit as a maritime
nation.

Tne Emerald, screw frigate, Capt. A. Cumming,
made her experimental screw trial at Portsmouth
on Saturday. The screw tested on this occasion was
of the same pattern as on the last, the common, or
' Admiralty, screw, with an increasing pitch of from
27ft. 6in. to 29ft. 6in. ; diameter, 18ft. ; length, 3tt.
bin. ; and immersion, botis. Six runs were made at
the measured mile, and the mean of the whole giv-
ing the ship a speed of 11 624 knots, with a mean
revolution of engines of 53. The ship turned a full
circle to port in Bmin. 49sec., and to starboard in
10min. lsec.
The Channel Fleet, consisting of the flagship Re-
venge, 3,322 tons, 800 horse power, and 73 guns,
Capt. C. Fellowes, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral
of the Red R. Smart, K.H. ; Warrior, iron frigate,
of 6,109 tons, 1,000 horse power. and 40 guns,
Capt. A. Cochrane, C. 8.; Black Prince, iron fri-
gate, of 6.109 tons, 1,000 horse power, and 40 guns,
Capt. Wainwright ; Resistance, iron frigate, Capt.
Chamberlain, of 3,710 tons, 600 horse power, and
16 guns ; and Defence, iron frigate, of 3,720 tons,
600 horse power, Capt. A. Philimore, arrived at
Spithead about, 10 p.m. on Saturday from Lisbon,
and awaits orders from the Admiralty, expected,
according to rumour, for the Nore. The general
results of the cruise since the iron ships left Spit-
head, now
p
head, now some time since, for Portland and Lisbon,
is staled to be most satisfactory. All the vessels
althoughwnsostia
weatherly under canvas, and are fast under either
takenroved
place
rs
sail. They
seaboats, are very
a gale. The m
sail or steam. The chief trials since leaving England
occasionally They roll at times,
38 degs. ,aitttise. said much more than the Revenge;
working of the guns under main
one day in a heavy swell, after
dsayndbonin worked at sea, and on one occa-
eck guns have been cast looEe
circumstances, the ships
sion, the
each way. A target was
u nder the most unfavourable
specially selected to test the
rolledl as much as 18 degs.
and firing carried on for some
out from each ship,
many
gunsecting bars were bent
otherguns similar
were s
st sthr
e overboard,a
tised under difficulties." Directing but it was" prac-
anadtornielfet,nogfatnthhdesecured, and the morning's
in several instances, threatened d
all to ow geter
e
occurred, but
practice
passed over without any serious accident.T
War-
rior and other iron ships require docking he
in order