The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-07 00:00:00

English v. American Turret Ships.

It has been already observed that "the news we
get from Charleston should teach us to look nar-
rowly to the machinery of turret ships." As the
Prince Albert, building by Mr. Samuda on the
Thames, and the Royal Sovereign, converting at
Portsmouth-dockyard, are the only turret ships we
have at present in band, and as the last-named ves-
sel is the more forward in her construction of the
two, we purpose offering a few remarks on the ma-
chinery of her turrets, and also to give a general
idea of their construction with their frame of
1.3,-shaped iron ribs projecting from the inner skin,
and filled in with teak, the iron lattice-work outside
both, embraced in its turn by the teak cushion on
which rest the 53in. armour-plates.

It is to a certain extent impossible to draw any
correct inference as to the part our two turret ships
would have played in the attacks upon the forts at
Charleston from the defeat of the Federal turrets in
their attacks upon that place, for we do not
even know how the revolving turrets were pivoted
upon their decks. We, however, know enough
of the double turret vessel, the Keokuk (sunk
in the first action), to draw a comparison between
her and our Royal Sovereign, and we think it will
be at once seen that the English ship will be a
vastly more formidable vessel either for purposes
of offence or defence (always excepting the draught
of water) than the Federal vessel could have been.
The length of the Keokuk (159 ft. Gin.) and her light
draught of water (9ft ) precluded her carrying
any great weight of armour, and her hull may be
considered as vulnerable to a 12-
pounder rifled gun
from stem to stern. The turrets weighed each 40
tons, and were built up of alternate layers of wood
and ircn—a system that has been proved by
actual experience with the Stork's smooth-bore
68 pounder at Portsmouth specially adapted
for speedy destruction by a 68-pound round
shot, and in one-tenth part of the time it would
take with a similar projectile to destroy a wooden
structure of the same weight. The Keokuk's turrets
were, as stated in the Times of April 25, formed of
an internal groundwork of inch rolled plates,
covered with bars of iron four inches in depth,
standing edgeways, placed 11 in. apart, and the in-
terstices being filled with yellow pine. Over all this
were three iron plates, each pia. thick, boiler-plate,
in fact, bolted together with bolts of 11in., with
countersunk heads, 1 foot apart. The turrets were
in fact nothing more than iron and wooden planking
coated with three thicknesses of ordinary boiler-plate.
It is worthy of particular notice that the Keokuk's
two turrets were not revolving, but that she was
fitted with " twin screws," worked by independent
engines, to give her hull the necessary power of re-
volving and bringing the guns in her turret to bear
upon the enemy. This important principle was
referred to by Sir James Elphinstone on intro-
ducing his motion on iron-clad ships in the
House of Commons, and was first brought
under the notice of the Admiralty by the Messrs.
Dudgeon, of Limehouse, who have built several
vessels on the principle for mercantile purposes.
That the Admiralty is fully aware of the value of
the " twin screw" system as a means of manoeuvring
ships of war under steam is evident from the
answer given to the hon, member for Portsmouth
by Lord Clarence Paget, and by the order recently
given by the Admiralty to Messrs. Dudgeon to
construct a small steamer on this principle for
experimental purposes. The turrets of the Keokuk
had, however, one fatal fault. They had iron
Pendulum shutters fitted to their ports, BO as to
close them against the enemy's shot while the
gun's crew were engaged in reloading. The result
Of this arrangement was that the shutters when
closed were struck by shot from Fort Sumter, be-
came jammed on their pivots, and the guns inside
were thus enclosed in a cylinder without ports
through which they could return the enemy's fire.
It is evident, therefore, from the foregoing facis,
that the destruction of the Keokuk was owing to the
disposition that
her lightness of her armour, and
her offensive powers ware rendered almost ~2i/ by the
jamming of her pendulum port shutters when struck
by the enemy's shot.
The destruction of the Keokuk must not, how-
ever, he looked upon as at all condemnatory of the
Federal Monitors. If we can trust the accounts
since received iu this country of their doings under
the batteries of the Confederates, they have been
under terrific storms of shot from the rifled 200-
pound bolt to the
suffering any spherical smooth-bore, without
material damage, and proving the
value of a turret'B deflective surface, while their of-
fensive powers have been sufficiently demonstrated
by the destruction of the
Confederate ironclad Ata-
lanta by
some nine shots from the Federal turret-
ship Weehawken. The Americans are the first
people who have Pitted iron turret-ships against
ironclads—that is, Confederate improvised • lads ironc ,
coated with railway bars, and against forts armed
•
with such guns as the
Brookes or the Blakley and
Whitworth rifled 120
and 200-pounders, and after
an experience in such Matters, such as no other na-
tion ca at the present time possess, they continue
building monster Monitors, and arming them with
15-inch guns, and Northern
men, we are told,
say,
"Our navy, which was only
60 at the commence-
ment of the war, has been
raised to 600."
To return to our own Royal Sovereign. It is ne-
cessary to repeat here that ea
e is being fitted with
four turrets, the one forward being the largest of the
four, and intended to carry
two 300-pounder smooth-
bore guns; while the three others will be of less
diameter, and will carry only
One gun each of the
same calibre. From the inner skin of the turret,
formed of half-inch boiler plate, will project out-
wards iron ribs lee-shaped, 10 inches
in length and
20in. apart, the spaces between h
t ese ribs being
filled in solid with teak. Round the outer cir-
cumference of this combination of teak and iron
ribs is a crossed trelliswork of 1-inch iron, and
on this trelliswork, and through all and out-
side all is bolted 3 inches of solid teak. Here is a
structure at once far better Calculated to resist
the impact of shot than the turrets of the Keokuk
could have been, although the turret of the Royal
Sovereign which has been so far described is as yet
without its armour; for round the outer surface of
the turret on the 8 inch teak cushioning are to be
laid the solid 5,t, inch rolled armour-plates, which
are now being manufactured, and bent immediately
on leaving the rolls to the required segments of a
circle, at the Park ;ate Works, Yorkshire. In the
immediate front of the turret or vicinity of the two
ports, however, the resisting power of the 51 inch
armour-plate is further supplemented by a 4 inch
rolled .plate, so that in the section of the turret's
entire circumference which will be exposed to the
shot of an enemy the defensive powers of the
turret will consist of, from outwards, 101 inches
of iron, 31-, inches of teak, 5 inches of -1--inch
iron trelliswork, 10 inch iron 1-3 shaped ribs
filled in with teak, and the inner iron skin.
The outer circle of armour-plates is to be bolted,
or " married," as we believe it is technically ex-
pressed, round the turret's upper rim, to a mas-
sive iron ring 19 feet in diameter, 14 inch by
2 inch iron, and weighing 2 tons 9 cwt. This