The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-06 00:00:00

GUNS AND SHIPS.

Captain Cowper P. Coles, in a letter to a con-
temporary, says :—Tae question of heavy guns and
the preparations to be made to enable our ships to
carry them having been reopened in your columns,
I beg the favour of a small spice for some remarks.
1. Although we have not yet produced a heavy ,
gun to stand the tests required by our authorities,
the late reports from Russia leave no doubt that
Mr. Krupp has completed one that satisfies the
Russian Government, and which can send shot and
sten at 700 yards through a Warrior target. There
can, therefore, be no doubt that we must prepare
ourselves to use similar or superior weapons, and
that they can only be of equal or greater weight
than Mr. Krupp's gun, viz., 12 tons.
2. I believe I have already shown that on my
system of a revolving turret a heavier broadside can
be thrown than from ships armed on the broadside ;
but it possesses this further advantage, that my
turrets can be adapted to the heaviest description of
ordnance ; indeed, no other plan has yet been put
In practice, while it is impossible to adapt the broad-
aide ships to them, without the enlargement of the
IP:rts, which would destructively weaken the ships,
'ld leave the guns' crew exposed to rifles, grape
shot,t, or shells." For instance, the armament origi-
nally Proposed for the Prince Albert was 12 110-
Phretse, mounted in six cupolas, which would
aide 01 7
.1,311,t0 her, a vessel of 2,500 tons, a broad-
ship of
coo tons,
for 1.88 tons. The Warrior, a
from pr6oteteat'us, carries a broadside of 8841 b only
llb for al tonand 7401 b from unprotected guns—
increased
by the and though this maybe nominally
110 -pounders, it substitution throughout in her of
ing, ,her battering ix,114 diminish instead of increas-
clad ships. B,ieun, and not the nu twonevr. as against other armour-
, ineed that it was the heavy
g meet
acti3O light ones, which would
determine future naval
,lobtained permission
from the Admiralty to subs tints
the Prince Albert
three turrets,each carrying tone in
.peentier°-nounder, and one
cupola carrying two 100
for the original
six cupolas. It is true that he, 81:
tonnage)
butlisitof the War-
nally reduced to 1,1201 b. (still in "reeadside is nomi-
nally
this that whereas late
rior's if compared with
great advantage,
have demonstrated that 41--inchpplautesecra-Pateorti7tehnetys
n be made
68-pounder and 110- ou
to resist
es them
when target" with
have also shown that the 3.00-p.ounder smashes
the
greatest formed into a
can
ease. The Prince Albert, therefore, e
no
smash the Warrior, though the Warrior carries
gun that can injure her
7
. rice can she, as a broadside
ship, be altered to carry heavier guns.
3. The Admiralty seem to believe that the turret
cannot be carried in a sea-going ship, and the un-
seaworthiness of the Monitor has occasionally been
quoted as bearing against
merely flat-
my invention. But the
Monitors are not ships at all; they are
bottomed rafts nearly flush with the water, desidned
for coast and river warfare, and not intended fo would
suld
ea-
going vessels. In support of my views I
quote, first, the opinion of the present Constructor
of the Navy, who wrote in the Engineer of August
2, 1861, showing the advantages my system must
have over the old one in strength, height out of water
and stability, and consequent adaptation for sea-
gollg ships ; and, secondly, I would add the con-
viction of one whom the country acknowledges as
among
her ablest shipbuilders, who writes thus :
" Dear Captain Coles,— I beg to say that
thein I
n tenscipeede speech IC made at Birkenhead on Friday last.
unless theou
that, to the public my conviction
Admiralty allow the vessels they
are fitting with
and rigged, they would cupolas to be properly masted
a not be doing justice to
your invention. 1
may add that I have myself no
dou'lt whatever that vyi-
fit.ted with your cupola properly designed and
cleat seagoing ships tor will. prove most effi
service in any part of the
ironclad world. The Americanrand
Monitors have
hitherto been built for rive
coast service,
and are not adapted for regular sea -going work.
alley cannot, therefore, be at all classed with
w.lth the
ships you have been urging this country furs() long
e
I ours truly,
time to adopt.—
a "Birkenhead, Oct. 29." " JOIIN LAIRD.
4. I would point out the fact that the following

c
* In the late action of Japan it is reported that n---0 ,e
a 8
seven men were killed, besides others wounded, by tl7
explosion of a single shell in the face of an open port.