The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.-It is not without some reason that our

Admiralty congratulates itself on the success
achieved by a new iron cased frigate. We shall pre-
sently show what still remains to be established be-
fore the critical problem of modern shipbuilding can
be solved, but a great point has certainly been gained
for the present. The Royal Oak, the trial perform-
anees of which we have this week reported, hasps-
tified all the expectations which could be brought to
the test of pacific or domestic experiment, and the
result is all the more important from her being the
first specimen of a class. If she is successful,. there
is no reason why four similar ships now coming for-
ward should not give equal satisfaction, and the
whole batch will constitute no less than a quarter
of our entire iron fleet, built or building. More-
over, the model is presumably a cheap one, and at
any rate it admits of rapid despatch, so that no
success could be more convenient or timely than that
jusc announced. The Lord Mayor took the oppor-
tunity at the late Mansion-house banquet of con-
gratulating the First Lord of the Admiralty on the
intehigence, and the Duke of Somerset acknow-
ledged the value of the compliment. The Royal
Oak is not an iron ship, but her name is so far a
misnomer that, as the Duke informed the company,
she has not a plank of British oak about her. She
is, however, a wooden vessel. She was originally
laid down for a 91-gun ship, at the time when that
model was in fashion, and was afterwards taken in
the frame and converted to her present form and
purpose. The Prince Consort, the Caledonia, the
Ocean, and the Royal Alfred are undergoing similar
transformations, and will appear in their new cha-
racter one after another. Instead of being wooden
two-deckers, they will be 32-gun frigates, cased in
iron, and though they are not expected to equal the
regular iron built vessels on the Warrior pattern they
may prove very serviceable ships indeed. So eligible,
in fact, was the original design considered that a
proposal was made to extend it a little, and it will
be remembered, probably, that if the House of
Commons had not objected to the scheme, the
Admiralty would have built seine new wooden
frames in addition to those already standing, for
the mere sake of converting them afterwards as
they have converted the Royal Oak and her con-
sorts. So, this success of the Royal Oak is a suc-
cess for the Admiralty in more ways than one, and
will furnish new arguments fur a Government plan,
besides reflecting credit on dockyard workmanship.
The merits of a modern fighting ship are measured
by three qualifications—speed, strength, and
power, it being always presumed that she is fit to
go to sea, and contains wholesome and commo-
dious lodging for her crew. In the first of these
qualities the Royal Oak has actually surpassed ex-
pectations. She was calculated to make 112 knots
an hour, whereas she made upwards of 121 with
ease. She even went faster with all her guns and
stores on board than she did in light draught. We
are told, too, that she answers her helm " as quickly
and as sensitively as a cutter," and that her steer-
ing " capabilities cannot be approached by any
vessel above the size of a gunboat" on the list of the
Royal Navy.. Altogether it is thought there is not
.a faster man-of-war in the service. So far, there-
fore, her success must be regarded as complete. As
respects her strength or capacity to resist attack,
we can only say that she is protected all over with
41-inch plates, and has no unarmed part exposed to
hostile shot. Her powers of offence are expressed
by a broadside battery of 16 guns, 12 of which are
the old smooth-bore 6S-pounders and four 1101 b.
Armstrongs. In these respects she does not differ
from the other vessels of our iron fleet, which are all
armed alike, with more or fewer of these same guns,
according to their dimensions. If, therefore, we
assume that ordnance of this description is the best
for our purposes, that it is best to carry it in broad-
side ports, and that iron plates upon wooden hulls
give a structure not materially inferior to one of
iron throughout, we shall arrive at the conclusion
that we are making a very good thing out of our
"conversions," and that we have got a capital bar-
gain in the new Royal Oak. But the reader will
have guessed from these reservations how much re-
mains to he proved. It has been admitted without
contradiction that an iron-plated wooden ship is not
so good a vessel as a ship built of iron:from first to
last; but still it is a vessel not to be despised even
in the modern estimates of a fighting fleet. The
famous Gloire was built on this plan, and as we had
got the timber ready, and great expedition could
be used, we gained something both in economy and
despatch, if we lost something in strength. As to
power, the capacity of the Royal Oak class is ex-
actly similar to the capacity of the Warrior class.
We can arm either one kind of ship or the other
with exactly such guns as we think fit to select;
but here an important question arises. It has not
yet been ascertained whether the system of mount-
ing a battery in broadside ports is better or worse
than that of mounting a quarter as many guns of
four times the calibre in revolving shields or turrets.
As this somewhat bitter controversy can never be
terminated except by actual experiment, we should
be very glad to see the Royal Sovereign fairly
tried against the Royal Oak. The former ves-
sel is the only one of six which is to be
converted on the turret principle, and it is ex-
ceedingly desirable that we should know how this
principle works. There is some reason for giving
the broadside principle the preference as things
now stand. We do know that guns can be safely
carried and worked in broadsides, but we have not
the same experience in favour of turrets or shields.
Wed
do know that guns of the calibre above speci-
fied can be conveniently managed, but we cannot
say es much for 300-pounders. It was reasonable
enough,
therefore, as we were already making an
experiment with armour-plated hulls, to shrink
from a second experiment at the same moment. It
Is something to find, as we have found, that we can
affix enormous slabs of iron to a ship's side without
impairing her speed or handiness, and we might
have complicated the trial, and perhaps damaged the
result, if we had also endeavoured to provide an
armament on entirely new principles. We conceive,
too, that the experience of the American war is by
no means conclusive in favour either of turret-ships
or enormous ordnance; indeed, the Monitors seem
repeatedly to have failed in doing what the Royal
Oak with her 68 pounders ought, if our experiments
arc trustworthy, to do without difficulty. Still, it
is impossible to be blind to the powers which this
new artillery may be found to possess. If a large
gun is best for a fort, it must be best for a ship also,
provided only the ship can carry it. Captain Coles
maintains that his Royal Sovereign, with her five
guns worked in revolving shields, will be a better,
cheaper, and more formidable vessel than any ship
of the Royal Oak class. He may be either right or
wrong in this conviction, but it is a pity the ques-
tion should be left doubtful. It is amusing to look
at some of the changes which the new style of ar-
chitecture has produced. The Royal Oak—this
model frigate, is about the ugliest thing afloat. All
the poetry of the matter has vanished. The grace-
ful outline and beautiful features of a ship have
been supplanted by the requisites of strength and
security indispensable to an impregnable battery.
The difference is that between an ancient castle and
a modern redoubt; and ugly as the Royal Oak is,
the Duke of Somerset tells us that he has some spe-
cimens in hand which will be uglier still. But we
can put up with these drawbacks. " Handsome is
that handsome does," all the world over; and if our
ships can carry their guns, protect their crews, and
outstrip their rivals, we shall very easily persuade
ourselves t o dispense with the accessories of elegance
and grace.

POST.—The suspension of diplomatic relations
betweenarl
of xaim
this country
anopportunity,
ry an d Brazil ha
of wh
s ffor dedi
et oh
he
the
E
has availed himself, of reviewing the circumstances
which led to this unforeseen occurrence. On Thurs•
day we published the official despatch of th e Foreign
Secretary recalling our representative at the Bra-
zilian Court. This step followed as a matter of
course on the departure from London of the Brazilian
Legation. The initiative was taken by the G3vern-
merit of his Imperial Majesty, and nothing
was left to the British Government except to
express their regret that such a proceeding
should have been considered indispensable.
It is certainly impossible to avoid a feeling
of sore disappoinment at finding diplomatic rela-
tions suspended between ourselves and one of the
best regulated Governments in the South American
continent. Brazil has for many years honourably
distinguished herself among the republics by which
she is surrounded by her honest endeavours to
secure ,such a political system as would command
the respect and the confidence of European States.