The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-17 00:00:00

AMERICAN ARTILLERY.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)

RICHMOND, Nov. 14.

It is far from flattering to the national vanity of an Eng-
lishman to be told that the artillery of his country is behind
the requirements of the present age, and that in two and a
half years of exasperated warfare America has outstripped
Europe as regards the size, power, and'efficiency of her
cannon. It has been my fortune, however, to hear this
language employed and these opinions expressed on many
occasions during the last two years, both in .the Northern
and Southern States; and it must be avowed that in some
instances the spokesmen have been the very highest autho-
rities upon the subject, of artillery that this continent can
boast. When there is such a coincidence of opinion among
men who are certainly not yet surpassed in knowledge of
their subjects by any of their rivals, it would seem high
time that England should satisfy herself as to the faith that
is in her, and should fearlessly ascertain the truth, at what•
ever ccst or risk. It is very possible that the actual re-
sults of the experiments at Shoeburyness and elsewhere in
England are unknown in this country; but I will repeat
what seem to be the radical objections entertained on this
If de of the Atlantic to the Armstrong and Whitworth guns.
In the first place, there is universal disbelief in the strength
of breech-loading cannon. Secondly, there is a gene•
ral objection to the rapid twist of the rifling in the rifled
ordnance of England. I have mentioned in a previous letter
that the rifling of the Brooke gun is very gradual, consist-
ing of one complete turn in 4011., or one-fourth of a turn in
each gun of iOft. When the Armstrong gun was first intro-
duced it was publicly stated in evidence in England that the
resistance to the egress of the shot offered by the circuitous
twist is equal to a weight of one ton and a half, and that,con-
sequently, when the shot leaves the gun its initial velocity is,
as is well known, very low. If, in order to increase this velo-
city, the charge of powder be augmented, the grooves wear
very rapidly, and the gun becomes useless. It seems to be
believed by Commander Brooke and Admiral Dahlgren
that all the advantages of rifling can be gained by a more
gradual twist, and a greater length of service elicited from
the gun. Be this as it may, there can be no question that,
so far as heavy rifled ordnance are concerned, the two great
successes of this war are the Brooke and Parrott guns. And
it is with reference to the enormously superior powers of
these guns beyond those possessed by the English 68-
pounder or B.inch smooth bore that the great error of Eng-
lish opinion seems to be entertained. How far the Brooke
and Parrot guns outstrip the Armstrong and Whitworth,
their rifled competitors in Europe, it is impossible for tue to
say; but by turning to the 10th volume of the professional
papers of the Royal Engineers, published at Woolwich in
1861, it will be obvious that an immense stride has been
made since the essay from the pen of Sir John Burgoyne—,
the then highest authority in England—which that vo-
lume contains, was written. Taking for his text the breach-
ing of a marten() tower at Eastbourne by three Armstrong
guns, and the siege operations conducted by the Prussian
Government at Juliers (between Aix-la-Chapelle and Co-
logne), Sir John Burgoyne points out the superiority, with
a view to breaching a fort, of rifled ordnance at a range of
1,000 yards, as compared with the smooth-bare and sphe-
rical projectiles. Sir John says :—" Up to a range of
1,000 yards (and probably further trials will carry it some
hundreds of yards beyond) rifled ordnance has been ascer •
tained to give the velocity and precision of practice re-
quired to effect breaches, whereas with the spherical mis-
siles 600 or 700 yards may be deemed their utmost practical
limits." It was little foreseen by Sir John Bur-
goyne that, scarcely two years from the publica-
tion of these words, a fort would be breached by rifled ord-
nance, not at a range of 1,000 yards, and possibly a few
hundred yards beyond, but from a distance of 21 miles. In
reference to the practice against the Martello tower Sir John
observes :—" Trials were subsequently made to breach a
similar tower from smooth bored 68 and 32 pounders at the
same range of 1,032 yards, and the result may be deemed
altogether a failure, both accuracy of fire and velocity of the
missiles being quite deficient for such a range, At 600, or
perhaps 6 i 0 yards, the superiority of the.riffed ordnance
would have been very little, if any." The guns employed
against the tower in question were three Armstrong breech-
loaders, described as follows :-1. An 82-poun,:er of 6
inches calibre; charge for shot, 101 b ; for shell, Olb. 2. A
7-inch howitzer, throwing 1001 b shells; charge, 91b. 3. A
40-pounder of 4.75 inches calibre, No. 101; charge, 51b.
At the conclusion of the second day's practice, after
about 160 projectiles from these, three guns had taken effect,
the tower was reduced to a heap of ruins. But inasmuch
as Sir John speaks vaguely of the possible effect of the fire
of rifled ordnance at a greater range, it may be doubted
whether the Armstrong gun would be effective against
masonry at more than 2,000 yards. Here, however, we
have Fort Sumter breached by the Parrott gun at a distance
of more than 4,000 yards. It cannot but ba desirable that
the attention of England should be drawn to these startling
dovelopments, and that she should not suffer herself to bs
lulled into a fancied security, and to live a tool's paradise,
because she has lavished millions upon the Armstrong
gun.

But if as regards breaching practice the superiority of
the rifled ordnance over smooth-bores is manifestly
established, I believe that this superiority will be still more
marked when both are tried against iron-plating. There
appears to be in England, and especially among naval
officers, a very general idea that at a short range there is
no gun so formidable against iron plates as the old 68-
pounder or 8-inch smooth-bore. I am not at liberty
to mention the exact result gained by Captain
Brooke's trials against the target with his own gun, but it
will be sufficient to state that in my belief they would
astonish Europe. It is imagined in England that because
se is
birthno t
only one of the Monitors off Charleston has hitherto been
sunk,uti the Confederate guns cannot be very formidable. That
the belief of
their
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approaching
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by
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erret h. ,
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truth ready is that no Monitor has ever approached nearer
to Forts Sumter, Moultrie, or Johnson than 900 yards, ex-
cept the Keokuk, which came within 700 yards, and was
u
sinltk
the:i
sked'" Have you any gun in England which
could Keokuk at that distance ?" This question
must be answcr3d in England itself. Nothing is more
certain than that the 68-pounder could not attempt such a
feat. When the wreck of the Keokuk was examined it was
s nc.
found that, in addition to the Brooke bolt which sunk her,
three shots from the 10-inch smooth-bore had riddled her
turret through and through. To use anything smaller
than the 10-inch smooth-bor3 against iron plating is scoffed
at on this continent, Commander Brooke is of opinion that

the 430 ball thrown by the Weehawken against the Atlanta
would easily crash through the Warrior's sides, and create
as much sensation as the large stone ball thrown long ago
on the D trdanelles which struck Admiral Duckworth's
ship. But Europe and America differ in nothing more
than in their conceptions of the right kind of projectile to
employ against iron plating, of the velocity at which the
projectile should be launched, and of the nature of the
iron armour which should be opposed to it. The object
of Europe seems to be to pierce or perforate iron armour
by elongated bolts driven at immense velocity— th object
of America to smash in the sides of iron-clad vessels by
ponderous spherical projectiles driven at a low velocity.
Again, it seems universally believed in Europe that soli.]
iron plates uniformly rolled to a thickness of 4 or 5 inches
are vastly stronger than four or five laminae, or layers, each
of them an inch in thickness, laid one on the top of the
other. Mr. Stevens, of New York, on the other hand, pro-
leases his belief that laminated iron armour is stronger, as
well as being vastly cheaper, than solid. A very superficial
examination of the subject will convince every one that men
are yet in their infancy as regards knowledge of the dyna-
mics of artillery, and of the resistance which iron-clad sea-
going vessels can be made to offer; but our knowledge has
now advanced to such a stage as to make it probable that
we are on the eve of a momentous discovery. It is for this
reason all the more surprising to Englishmen who are
resident in North America, and who are cognizant of the
strides which the Americans have made, that it has never
seemed fit to the English Government to attach to each of
the mighty belligerents now arrayed against each other on
this continent such commissioners as it has been our prac-
tice to send with a view to watching and reporting upon
European wars in which we werttneutral--such, for in-
stance, as were attached to the Austrian and French armies
in the Italian war of 1859, or such as President Pierce sent
to the Crimea in 1853. In the belief of all who are most
conversant with its details, never has there occurred a war
so pregnant with instruction to military engineers and
artillerists as the present. It is not alone that the battles
are fought with an affluence of artillery hitherto unknown,
that (as I have heard stated) more shells were discharged
in the single battle of Gettysburg than were employed in
all the battles that Napoleon ever fought, but that in all
which relates to the science of military engineering,
whether in relation to sieges or battles, not only on land,
but also on the margin of ocean, estuary, lake, river, and
,wamp, such opportunities are daily presented as in all the
previous wars of the current century might be sought in
vain. It would seem that no European Government, with
the exception of the Prussian,
has its eyes open to the
opportunity now so ignorantly or heedlessly thrown away.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

A trial of armour plates took place at Portsmouth, on
Monday, at the practice range in Porchester-creek, the
plates being affixed to the side of the target ship with tin.
through boles, and the shot (cast iron) being fired against
them from a 68 pounder gun on the deck of the Foam gun-
boat, at 200 yards distance. The plates were supplied by
the firms of Messrs. Beale, Parkgate Works, Yorkshire; the
Thames Ironworks'and Shipbuilding Company; the Mersey
Ironworks, Liverpool; and Messrs. J. Brown and Co.,Atlas
Works, Sheffield. They were of various thicknesses. The
plate sent in by Messrs. Beale was rolled but " surface
planed" (according to the established and most objectionable
regulations of the Admiralty) from 41 to 4/in., the skin of
the plate being thus destroyed and its fibrous strength seri-
ously damaged. Notwithstanding that the plate was thus
injured as much as was possible, from a mechanical point of
view, it emerged from its trial in a very creditable manner.
The Mersey plate was of hammered manufacture and of a
uniform thickness of 51in. It was severely pounded by
clusters of shot at the extremities, and on its left end the
plate exhibited several large cracks apparently caused by
the defective state of that part of the ship's side which
formed its backing. The Thames plate was also hammered
and was from 3/ to 31in. in thickness of metal. Being of
hammered manufacture it possessed, like all other ham-
mered and tapered plates, the advantage over Messrs.
Beale's tapered plate that its thickness was worked down
under the hammer, its skin and fibre being thus left intact
in all their rough strength, and not partially destroyed by
the application of the planing tool, as must necessarily be
the case with all tapered rolled plates under their present
conditions of manufacture. As armour plates are generally
made in 15ft. lengths, it is obvious that no necessity what-
ever exists for this planing of rolled plates, and tapering of
the thickness of a ship's armour from, say Gin. at the fore
chains to 3:n. at the hawse pipes. The same result might
be attained by bolting on plates of gradually decreasing
thickness, but each uniform throughout its length, and un-
touched by the planing tool. In fact, this principle would
be, as explained some considerable time since to the Admi-
ralty by one of the most eminent and trusted of our armour
plate manufacturers, a planing of the plate's backing in lieu
of the plate. The explanation, however, appears not to have
been acted upon. The Thames Company's plate stood the
impact of the 68 pounder admirably, considering its thick-
ness and the absurdity of testing a 31 inch plate with the
same gun, weight of shot, and powder that were used in the
test of the 51 inch plate. As, however, these trials aro car-
ried on merely to enable the Admiralty to classify and thus
obtain a knowledge of the exact quality of the plate's metal
and manufacture, the use of one description of gun may,
possibly, not seriously affect the results, when the trials are
conducted under duly experienced officers. It must be evi-
dent, however, that, without the exercise of great discre-
tion, judgment, and experience, there is a chance of consi-
derable confusion and perhaps discrepancies in the official
reports prepared of such trials. The fourth plate under trial,
sent in by Messrs. J. Brown and Co., of the Atlas Works,
Sheffield, was of rolled make, and of a uniform thickness of
4 inches. The foregoing remarks therefore apply to its trial
by the 88 pounder in a certain ratio, according to the diffe-
rence between its thickness and that of the now established
standard 51in. plate. This 41in. plate, however, withstood
the shot sent against it in a most extraordinary manner, and
fully maintained the high reputation of the firm and the
gradual and certain progress they continue to make even
on their acknowledged uniform excellence of both material
and manufacture. When Whalley Island is fully prepared
and entered upon as the Portsmouth armour plate and
target testing ground, in the room of the present sys-
tem of target ships, it will then be worthy of the con-
sideration of the Admiralty, whether it would not be an
advantage if all armour plates after that time were tested
without any backing. The object in firing at armour plates
at all is merely to ascertain the quality of the metal and
manufacture, and these objects would be obtained with far
greater certainty if the back as well as the front of the plate
was open to inspection on the day of trial, and before Capt.
Key's report is forwarded to the Admiralty. There have
been many plates of which the outer surface on the day of
trial has presented such an appearance that a report has been
forwarded to the Admiralty, accompanied by a figure of
merit which they certainly would never have received had it
been possible first to inspect the inner side—that is, the side
of the plate next the wood backing, and this has been espe-
cially the case with some of the rolled plates from their
target-shipim-
in dock, for the has been brought down
Tdockyard
d placed an pur-
pose of removing from under her quarters and landing the
the refharbourect wel a
in
to gi the
two armour •plates which some three months since were
coated with copper by the Walenu eleetro-alkaline process.
A report of the condition of the plates will now be prepared
by the dockyard officials, and forwarded to the Admiralty
for their information. This important electro-metallurgical
experiment was entertained and carried out by the Admi-
ralty in the fullest and moat liberal sense, both as regards
the inventor and the application of his principle. No posi-
tive verdict can, perhaps, be given of the results until the
plates have actually been taken off the ship's bottom and
examined, but serious fears are entertained that the prin-
ciple of the invention bas utterly failed in the test of its sub-
mersion in salt water owing to an error in the calculations
of the person who conducted the operations,
The Warrior target', recently experimented upon at Shoe-
buryness, has, by direction of the authorities at the Admi-
ralty, been removed to Sheerness dockyard, preparatory to
its being taken to pieces by the mechanics employed at
that establishment. Since its arrival the target has under-
gone a min • ute survey at the hands of the leading officials
of the yard, in order to ascertain if any and what portions
gave evidence of weakness. The workmanship and material
are, however, found to be, as nearly as possible, perfect,
while no defective portion of the target can be detected. Its
battered condition, then, is entirely the consequence of
the heavy concussions to which it was subjected from the
600 pounder Armstrong shots, which, it is almost needless
to remark, no target yet constructed, or ever likely to be
built, will ever effectually resist. One of the 41 inch iron-
plates has a hole cut right through Lit, as if it had been
drilled. This shot passed completely through the wood
backing, tearing away enormous pieces of teak and oak, and
at the same time starting one of the massive timber sup-
perte. Another shot appears to have struck on the edge of
one of the other plates, in which it has caused a severe
fracture, the bolts which held, the plate being drawn by the
force of the concussion some ten or a dozen inches. The
target weighs about 18 or 20 tons, and it is stated to have
cost 4500.
The iron-plated frigate Caledonia,. whist), according to
orders previously given by the Admiralty, was to have
been fitted at Chathatu, has been placed under the roast-
ing-shears at Sheerness dockyard, and her iron masts fitted
on board. The riggers are getting well on with her wire-
standing rigging, the line-of-battle ships Goliath and Irre-
sistible being both ready to be taken in hand. The arma-
ment for the Caledonia ie now being prepared for that
vessel at Chatham. She will mount 35 guns, eight of which
consist of the 110 pounder naval Arinstrongs, and the re-
mainder of the ordinary 68 pounders, Every portion of the
broadsides of the Caledonia being armour-plated, there are