The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-22 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.
The screw steamship London, 86, Capt. Henry
Chads, from the Mediterranean station, which ar-
rived in Plymouth Sound on Tuesday afternoon, as
already reported in _v./he Sun, left Malta on Decem-
ber the 18th, arrived at Gibraltar on January the

4th, and sailed thence on the 7th. The London
brings as passengers one sergeant-major and one

corporal of the Commissary Corps, six military and
15 naval invalids, including one from the Phcebe

and six from the Redpole, at Gibraltar ; also one

sergeant and two privates of the Ist battalion of
the 25th Regiment, two privates of the 2d battalion
of the 15th, and one private of the Ist battalion of
the 22d, and two gunners of the Royal Artillery.
The London spoke, January 3d, lat. 36 33 N., long.
3 8 W., the Belle of Devon ; 7th, in the Straits of
Gibraltar, the ship Charity; 13th, lat. 38 41 N.,
long. 11 8 W., a ship with white boats, supposed
to be the Moslem, with emigrants ; 15th, lat, 43 8
N., long. 11 46 W., the ship Waterloo ; lat. 43 12
N., long. 11 46 W., the ship Baroness. The Lon-
don came home under canvass, and lost her jibboom
on the Bth, foretopmast on the 9th, and maintop-

mast on the 10th ; the weather, however, was
generally fine up to the 15th ; when she had reached
lat. 43 17 N. Since then strong winds from the
north-west have prevailed. The London was com-
missioned in May, 1859, and has been constantly
employed on the Mediterranean station, chiefly at
N iples. The ship is in good condition. Her crew
will probably be paid off at Plymouth.
Some interesting firing at 41 and sk-inch armour
plates took place at Portsmouth yesterday, under
the superintendence of Commander Herbert, of
her Majesty's ship Excellent, acting for Capt. R. S.
Hewlett, C. 8., absent from indisposition. The plates
to be tested comprised—one from the Atlas Lon and
Steel Works, Sheffield (Messrs. John Brown and
Co.), and two from the Milwall Iron and Ship-
building Company's Works (late C. Mare and Co.)
the first was a 41-7,-- inch plate for Mr. Reed's iron
eased corvette Enterprise, 9ft. 4in. in length and
3ft. Tin. in width. The Milwall plates were sample
plates for the Northumberland, building in that
ykird, and were 51in. thick, one inch in excess of
of the Atlas plates. One plate was annealed, and
Bft. 3in. in length by 3ft. 2i-in. in width. The other
plate was " tempered," and, with the exception of
less in width, was of the same dimensions as
the one annealed. All the plates were bolted on to
the side of the Powerful, target-ship, in Porchester-
creek, and the firing was made from the Stork's
95cwt. 68 pounder smooth bore gun at the custo-
mary 200 yards' distance. One shot was first fired
at each plate in its turn, when the fir it)g was sus-
pended to allow of an examination being made of
the effects produced. The annealed plate was found
to have been struck by the shot 17in. from its upper
edge at its left extremity, the depth of the indent
being two inches, with a diameter of nine inches, a
crack extending across the corner of the plate from
the line of the first square to the bottom line of the

same square, or central line of the plate. Another
crack was visible below the circumference of the in-
dent about 5 inches in length. The tempered plate
was struck in the bottomcorner of the second square
and had buckled outward at either end to the blow,
but was without cracks: The depth of the indent
was lin. and 9-lOths, and the diameter 9in. There
were no visible cracks. The 41- inch plate from the
Atlas Works was struck on its left centre, the
indent being, in this case also, 1 in. and 9-10ths,
and the diameter 9in. The plate was not
buckled, and only a slight appearance of separation
of metal was visible, and that was in the centre of the
place struck, and was apparently the outer surface
of the metal rubbed up by the blow. From this the
firing was carried on at each plate, with intervals
between to allow of the necessary examination, until
the two Milwall plates had each received five shots
on their left ends from the centre, the Sheffield Atlas
plate eight shots in the same quarter. The Milwall
plates proved, as had been expected by their makers,
incapable of resisting the 68-pounder, and separa-
tion of metal, as well as penetration of the ship, in
their case was perfect. With the Atlas plate the
case was more satisfactory. The plate proved of
excellent quality, and, although subjected to severe
straining blows on its left edge and lower left corner,
and to six blows all delivered within a very small
space, and in two instances overlapping each other,
there were no cracks from individual blows to bolt-
holes or other weak parts. The separation of metal
that took place, irrespective of the edge and corner
blows, was caused by the pounding of the shot. in
euTrehdebpyll\atiers.
one particular space, and the consequent
asunder of the metal. The ship's side was clear of
The beautifully fibrous
anything like penetration.
in the broken
tearing_
nature of this plate was exhibited
fully accounts for
Bayley, Mr. Brown's
from Milwall were corner piece, a portion, of
stated to be purely
which
w as srepresentative.e
experi-
mental, which, it is also asserted,
their failure. The work is new to the company,
and, as they are about to embark largely in 'it even
the failure of a few plates may be turned into
an
ultimate source of profit. The Thames Iron Works
and the Atlas Iron and Steel Works gained their
position as the acknowledged best makers of ham-
mered and rolled armour plates respectively oily
after numerous failures and heavy outlay. The
Mil wall Company, profiting by the experience of
others, made public since armour plate forging first
began, may attain a position in the first rank without
such great losses. The Mil wall plates were forged
under the hammer, while Mr. Brown's plates were
rolled. The pest two years' experience, and more es-
pecially that of the past two lvemonth, has, however,
proved that tougher and more perfect armour-
plates can be made with the rollers than with the
steam hammer. Of this fact the trade generally
seem to be fully aware. The Sheffield Atlas 1-1 orks
, now roll plates up to 71 inches in thickness, and can
make them of any required length or breadth. At